


Metanoia

by VividSprinter



Category: Naruto
Genre: Childhood Friends, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Friends to Lovers, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-01
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-12 20:14:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29141328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VividSprinter/pseuds/VividSprinter
Summary: I am revisiting this story after several years of hiatus on another fanfic site. With all of the craziness going on in the world at the moment, I am determined to finish what I started, and hope others enjoy the story along the way :)
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character, Uchiha Sasuke/Original Female Character(s)
Kudos: 6





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I am revisiting this story after several years of hiatus on another fanfic site. With all of the craziness going on in the world at the moment, I am determined to finish what I started, and hope others enjoy the story along the way :)

If you were to ask someone about Sasuke Uchiha’s personality, some of the words that first come to mind might be arrogant, selfish, rude and cold to name a few; and they wouldn’t be wrong. It may come as a surprise to many that beneath this hardened exterior, there lay an insecure little boy with an unimaginable capability for compassion, loyalty and self-sacrifice-if you only knew where to look.

Firinne, or “Rinn” as she was more affectionately known was one such individual. She was able to bring out this side of Sasuke that nobody would believe, unless they were to witness it with their own eyes. As such she truly gave meaning to her namesake, for Firinne is an ancient Gaelic name which embodies truth and fidelity; something which she gave to Sasuke and all those precious to her in abundance. 

Our story begins at the birth of these two fated mortals some years ago on July 23rd. As luck would have it, both arrived on this Earth within minutes of one another on a hazy summer’s morning. Fortunate indeed, as we would have no tale to tell had these events not occurred. 

As two mothers enjoyed the ‘fruits of their labour’ (if you’ll pardon the pun!) an unlikely friendship was formed between the Uchiha and Flynn families, which cascaded down to their newborn children Firinne and Sasuke. As the new mothers began to adjust to their new bundles of joy, they were always there to help one another, frequently meeting for play dates and lunches during which the young women would cast their woes aside about their “Screaming brats” and “Stinky surprises” amongst other delightful topics. Oh, how they would howl with laughter about the daft things their children would get up to, as well as having the occasional gripe about the laziness of their husbands during the late night nappy change... 

Mikoto and Maher quickly became the closest of friends, while Sasuke and Firinne gradually grew and even managed to share their toys on a good day! Sure, they would pinch and slap each other, and Firinne would always thieve Sasuke’s tomatoes from his little lunch box whenever the opportunity presented itself, but the two children would not be without one another. 

However, one particularly muggy autumn night, shortly after the children’s 4th birthdays, everything changed. Sasuke can remember vividly, even after all this time, the terrified look on Firinne’s face as his mother carried the frightened child into their living room during the dark hours of that night. He can remember how many of his clan shot off into the sky like ghosts, hurriedly trying to catch up with someone, or something. He remembers how excited he was when, his mother explained to him that Rinn would be sleeping over for a while, yet turning to said friend and seeing nothing but emptiness and dejection. He remembers hugging the girl and promising that he would be her best friend forever...

Rinn remembers nothing.


	2. Chapter 1

Two years had passed since Rinn’s parents had mysteriously vanished that night, and now at the tender age of 7 she was still living with the Uchihas. This worked out rather well for both children; with Itachi becoming older, Sasuke always had company with Rinn around and she was grateful for any friendship or family figures now that she found herself so alone in the world.

The Uchihas treated her well, and Mikoto found it very amusing watching her youngest son following Rinn around like a little puppy dog. She scolded herself for indulging in her little fantasies about the two youngsters tying the knot one day, but she could tell Sasuke definitely had a soft spot for the feisty little girl, and it didn’t do any harm to entertain such notions when nobody was around!

Rinn was growing up to be a beautiful young lady; with her flowing coppery-red hair, pale skin, emerald eyes and heart-shaped face, she would surely mature into a stunning woman one day. However, one shouldn’t be fooled by looks, for Rinn had one hell of an attitude and was very self-assured even at her young age. Mikoto couldn’t help but think this was having a positive effect on Sasuke, who she feared was beginning to get lost in the shadows behind his brother, Itachi (from his father’s point of view at least!). Since Rinn had become their permanent house-guest, Sasuke had really come out of his shell, and he and Rinn would forever be out exploring/training together which had relieved a great deal of pressure from Itachi.

Mikoto was not wrong in this deduction, however if only she realised what these mischievous children were _really_ up to right now she might not be so enamoured with how Rinn was influencing, or rather _corrupting_ her youngest son...

\------------------------- _Konohagakure Forest------------------------_

“Ouchhh are you trying to kill me or something Rinn?! You know I can’t keep up with how quick you are!!” Sasuke sniffed, gradually sitting up from the dirt floor clutching his shoulder.

“Sasuke that’s the whole point of training! I told you before, all the ninja at the academy _always_ have to try and kill each other when they spar. It won’t be like real life otherwise, then if a bad guy comes along you won’t know if you can actually kill them, right??” Rinn rambled in response. 

She was sitting on a tree branch above where she had just kicked Sasuke in the shoulder. Hard. Sasuke got to his feet and shot her a glare from the ground below.

“Well how would you know anyway? All of the genin are the older kids and _they_ don’t talk to us! I bet you’ve made all that up just so you can get away with beating me up!” He retorted.

Rinn shot Sasuke back an even deadlier glare and jumped down from her tree to stand directly in front of him, all sass with her hands planted firmly on her hips. She leaned in towards him.

“I’ll have you know I have lots of cool older friends _Uchiha_! And I can go and train with them any time I want if you’re too much of a scaredy cat to actually try and hurt me!”

“But I don’t wanna hurt you, you’re my best friend!”

“Sasuke I’ve told you a million timesss....”

“But...”

“Come on Sasuke! Kick me!”

“But I...”

“Come on scaredy cat!”

“I’m not kicking a girl!!”

“Chicken! *Makes chicken noises*”

“Rinnnnnn...!”

“How are you gonna beat your big brother if you can’t even...”

*THWACK*

Rinn suddenly flew backwards into a tree. Sasuke had just kicked her in the stomach.

Well, she had tried to get him fired up and it had certainly worked wonders! She felt something drip and gingerly touched her forehead-a graze! She grinned as she dragged herself up from the floor, looking at Sasuke who smirked back at her.

Game on.

\------------------------------------------------- X ----------------------------------------------

Rinn knew that her little remark would hit a nerve with Sasuke, but she hadn’t bargained for quite how much she had actually hacked him off. He was relentless; kicks here, punches there-he even threw a few kunai into the mix! It was lucky that Rinn was a quick fighter otherwise she would have taken much more damage than she had done so far. She had never seen Sasuke fight this hard, and she had to admit she was quite impressed. All this time she had though he was so much weaker than her, yet he was hiding this strength and ability all that time just so he wouldn’t hurt her. It was quite sweet really.

As the ‘battle’ gradually became more ferocious Rinn had to pull a few of her own tricks out of the bag. Already a skilled chakra user for her age, she could not only use it to heal but also to attack. However, Sasuke knew only too well what she was about to unveil and hurriedly performed the hand signs for his fireball jutsu, unleashing it on his unsuspecting friend from behind a nearby rock. Almost a little too unsuspecting...

“RINN!!!” Sasuke yelled, suddenly in a panic. Rin gasped as the fire engulfed her, Sasuke charging over to her as fast as his little legs could carry him. As the smoke cleared Rinn slowly came into view. Although unharmed, she was sprawled across the ground, panting heavily with a look of horror on her face-and with good reason!

Encasing her was a sphere, not dissimilar in colour to an exotic ocean, with hues of fresh turquoise and blue ferociously fighting one another as if it were a riptide. What on earth was it? Where had it come from? All these questions began to buzz around Sasuke’s head as his eyes darted around looking for answers... or culprits. Rinn’s eyes however were still glued to the beautiful orb surrounding her. It took a long while before one of the children managed to speak:

“Rinn are you alright?? I’m really sorry I know I shouldn’t have used that technique but I got carried away... whoever put that thing around you must’ve..”

“It was me...”

“...huh?”

“I did it. It came from me...”

“What..? You mean... you _made_ that thing? That’s so cool Rin! I wish I....” Sasuke trailed off as he heard his friend start to sob. He bent down next to her and reached out his hand to comfort her but..

“OUCH!!” Sasuke cursed as his fingers were zapped by the strange aura surrounding little Rinn. Her head snapped round in horror as she reached out to him inside her bubble.

“NO! Sorry *sniff* I didn’t mean to *sniff* do that *sniff* I don’t know what’s *sniff* happening to me!!” she sobbed, finally succumbing to her emotions. Rinn began to cry uncontrollably, and Sasuke wanted nothing more than to push through whatever that weird barrier was and give her the biggest hug he could! It was torture just standing there watching the little girl cry and his heart sunk with guilt-he didn’t know what on earth to do.

Thankfully the loss of control of her emotions seemed up upset the balance of the sphere and it quickly depleted. The instant that it vanished Rinn felt arms wrap around her crying figure, and she clung on to Sasuke and sobbed for a short while until she managed to calm herself down. As she gradually pulled away from the embrace Sasuke gently placed his hands on her shoulders and looked her directly in the eyes.

“Are you alright Rinn?” He asked her tenderly, concern evident in the young boy’s voice.

Rinn nodded gently in response, casting her eyes to the floor to avoid Sasuke’s searching gaze.

_She’s Lying_...

Sasuke sighed, and let go of her shoulders. He stood alongside her, taking her small hand in his.

“Let’s go home and get some rest... We could play some games if you want? Or you could use my gameboy...?” Sasuke beamed a cheesy smile at her, hoping to cheer her up (He was normally very stingy with his gameboy so Rinn knew he was trying really hard to be nice!).

Rinn looked at her friend and mustered up the best smile that she could, given the circumstances.

“Thanks Sasuke... that’s really nice and all but could we maybe just watch a film? I’m really tired...”

Now that he looked at her properly, Sasuke noticed his friend indeed looked absolutely exhausted - unwell even...

Sasuke quickly let go of Rinn’s hand and walked in front of her, only to bend down.

“C’mon then-get on!” Sasuke chimed, still trying to cheer up his friend, “I’ll piggyback you home, then we can get back quicker and you won’t feel as bad?” He looked over his shoulder at the girl and flashed her another goofy grin... man he really was trying hard!

Rinn gingerly climbed on to Sasuke’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck and her legs around his torso. He gently stood up then picked up a bit of a jog in the direction of his house; he could have gone much faster but he feared that in Rinn’s fragile state she might not have the power to hold on if he sped up too much. _Although when it comes to power, Rinn clearly has something interesting locked away somewhere_ he thought.

“Say Rinn?” Sasuke called out to his friend.

“Hmm?”

“That thing you made just now, how come you never showed me that before? You know all the justu I can do, why did you keep it a secret?”

He felt her grip on him tighten.

“I didn’t know...” She mumbled.

“Huh?”

“I didn’t know I could do it OK?!” she snapped, burying her head into Sasuke’s shoulder. Rinn sighed. “I’m sorry Sasuke, I didn’t mean to snap at you... I just... don’t wanna talk about it...”

Sasuke placed one of his hands over Rinn’s and patted it gently.

“OK Rinn – You got it!”

They continued the rest of the journey back to Sasuke’s in a comfortable silence, soon arriving at the Uchiha compound and then Sasuke’s house itself. It smelled like some tasty food was cooking, and as Sasuke gently placed Rinn back down onto the ground the children carelessly followed their noses into the kitchen where Mikoto was cooking, forgetting one important detail...

\-------------------------------------------------- X ------------------------------------------------

“WHAT ON EARTH HAPPENED TO YOU TWO!!” Mikoto yelled at the two children. “YOU LOOK LIKE YOU’VE BEEN IN A FIGHT! WHO DID THIS TO YOU?!”

A look of realisation dawned on Rinn and Sasuke’s faces as they were being scolded by Sasuke’s mother.

_We didn’t heal our wounds..._

Normally Sasuke and Rinn were very sneaky little children, and as such, due to Rinn’s keen aptitude for chakra control, she was usually able to heal most of their minor surface wounds so that Mikoto wouldn’t even bat an eyelid. That’s how they normally got away with fighting one another.

However, this time they had not only fought each other even harder than usual, but because of Rinn’s little ‘incident’ they had completely forgotten to deal with the evidence.

And Mikoto was livid.

“SASUKE UCHIHA YOU HAD BETTER ANSWER ME OR SO HELP ME I WILL KNOCK ON EVERY DAMN DOOR IN THE...”

“Each other”, Sasuke said.

Mikoto gaped at him, confused.

“We were fighting each other”, he repeated, “For training...”

The two children looked at one other sheepishly, after which they averted their gaze to the floor guiltily, shuffling from foot to foot.

“Well of all the stupid things...” Mikoto began, glaring at her son. Then her eyes fell on Rinn. She had been looking after Rinn for a couple of years now, and she could tell when something was up. Her red puffy eyes, her body language, her quietness...

_Something’s happened. I wonder if her parents..._

Mikoto’s demeanour softened, and she gracefully kneeled down so that she was the same height as the children.

“Rinn dear, you look quite chilly there, why don’t you go and take a nice hot bath sweetheart?” Mikoto gently instructed, brushing some hair out of the girl’s face and smiling gently at her.

Rinn nodded in response.

“Off you go then sweetheart, there’s fresh towels in the cupboard” Mikoto watched her as she made her way to the bathroom, turning her back slightly to Sasuke, who saw this as the perfect time to escape! He slowly started tiptoeing away when...

“And where do you think _you’re_ going young man??” Mikoto asked accusingly, grabbing his collar and firmly pulling him to face her.

“Spill!” She demanded.

Sasuke sighed awkwardly, shooting her a pleading look. Her stern face made him realise he couldn’t weasel his way out of this one, and he ended up telling her everything; from the strange sphere Rinn produced to all the fighting they had been doing during the last few months, she dragged it all out of him!

After he has finished his confession, Sasuke grimaced as he awaited his mother’s reaction, expecting some kind of horrendous punishment, but none came.

Instead, she was looking through him almost wistfully - her mind was clearly elsewhere.

“Umm... Mother...?” Sasuke pressed, desperate to run upstairs to his bedroom where he could hide forever...

“Hmm? Oh Sasuke dear would you go upstairs and see how Firinne is please? I expect she has finished in the bathroom. You two mustn’t train so hard in future alright? There’s plenty of time for that when you’re older. when you’ll have no choice but to fight...”

“What about Rinn? What about that... thing she made?”

“You mustn’t tell anyone about that Sasuke. I will go and speak with the Hokage about this tomorrow... but for heaven’s sake don’t tell Firinne. I expect the poor girl is frightened enough already.”

“But...”

“Off you go Sasuke! I’ll call you when dinner is on the table.”

Sasuke shot her a glare as she continued about the kitchen as if nothing had happened, after which he skulked upstairs to find his friend, who was sat on her bed staring off into space. He sat down next to her, giving her a gentle poke in the cheek.

“Y’know I thought we were done for when I saw mother’s face...” He cautiously began, unsure of how best to break the silence.

To his surprise, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards, and she let out a snigger, which then turned into a laugh.

“BUSTED!” She laughed, whilst returning Sasukes poke (into the side of his face…).

“I know right? We will have to be even carefuller in future Rinn!”

“Sasuke that’s not a word...”

Sasuke pouted.

“Give me your arm” Rinn instructed, giggling at his sulking. Sasuke looked at her, perplexed, but then noticed the green aura emanating from her fingertips. He surrendered his arm to her, and she began healing the wounds she was able to, also healing her own once she had finished with Sasuke’s.

“Thank you...” Rin mumbled thoughtfully whilst tending to the last remaining cut on her knee, “Thank you for sorting me out earlier... I’m sorry we had to end our training so early...” she continued.

“That’s OK Rinn! That’s what friends are for silly” Sasuke replied, smiling gently. Rinn smiled back and leaned in to give him a big cuddle.

“Sasuke do you promise we can be best friends forever?” She asked, timidly.

“I promise.” Sasuke said, content.

_“KIIIIIIIIIIDS! DINNER’S READY!!!”_


	3. Chapter 2

It had been over a fortnight since Rinn’s ‘incident’ in the woods, and thankfully it had not happened again since. However, the two children were not unchanged by the events that had unfolded.

Sasuke, realising that Rinn really _could_ take care of herself, pushed himself much harder during training (although he reserved practicing any fire-style jutsu for the lake!), and Rinn was forever trying to keep whatever came out that afternoon in the woods under wraps; this was a tricky feat for the young girl, who couldn’t help but feel that something strange had awakened within her.

On the surface however, Sasuke and Rinn pretended that nothing had happened that day, and nothing had been mentioned since, until...

“Rinn, the Hokage has requested your presence this evening after dinner” Mikoto announced, as the two returned home via the kitchen after another hard day’s training. They both stopped dead in their tracks, a look of panic creeping up across Rinn’s little face.

“What?! Why? What have I done?! If it’s about painting that pig, Sasuke...”

“SHHH!” Sasuke elbowed her and clasped his hand over her face in an attempt to silence her. Rinn ignored this and continued to mumble a list of inaudible excuses from behind Sasuke’s hand as Mikoto chuckled at the spectacle in front of her.

“No, no, Rinn sweetheart you aren’t in any kind of trouble don’t you worry! The Hokage would just like to speak with you about a few matters that’s all. You know, I hear he has some of the tastiest tea and the most wonderful biscuits in his office...”

“Really?! All right!! When can I go?!” Rinn exclaimed, the promise of refreshments clearly peaking her interest. Sasuke glared at her sheepishly from the corner of his eyes, his face a picture of jealousy.

“Hey mother, how come she gets to go? Can I go too? I want some free food as well!” he said sulkily, arms folded across his chest.

Mikoto chuckled again, patting him on the head.

“Sasuke, Rinn needs to see the Hokage on her own. But do you know what might be nice? If she had a strong young man to see her there safely – isn’t that right Rinn?”

Rinn giggled, looking over at Sasuke as he puffed himself up as tall as he could, obviously rather pleased with himself.

“Yes, Sasuke can you walk me to the Hokage’s office after dinner please? It’ll be really scary going there alone in the dark and I’ll feel much better if I have my big and powerful best friend there to protect me!” Rinn answered, playing along.

Sasuke grinned, blushing, sticking his chest out further still.

“It’s OK Rinn, I’ll look after you! C’mon let’s go!” Sasuke proclaimed, grabbing Rinn’s wrist about the lead them out of the door.

“Sasuke...” Mikoto sighed, “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Sasuke looked blankly back at his mother.

“Dinner numbnuts!!” Rinn giggled, giving him a gentle whack around the head to bring him back to Earth. The two females chuckled at him as he quickly re-adopted his sulky pose from before, a faint pink still dusting his cheeks, huffing to himself.

“Well you two _girls_ can stay in the kitchen and do your cooking then, and _I’ll_ go and get some supplies together for my big mission after dinner!” Sasuke announced, poking his tongue out at Rinn, earning him a glare.

“What dyu mean us _girls_ Sasuke?? Don’t be so girl-ist!! Maybe _you_ should learn how to cook _Sasuke!_ Why I oughta...” and with that, a furious Rinn chased her shining knight up the stairs to his room whilst Mikoto, smiling to herself, continued making their dinner for tonight.

Later on, once their plates were clean and their tummies were full, Sasuke and his fully “provisioned” rucksack (the young boy seemed to have got it into his head that they were going on a proper mission or something...) were waiting proudly at the back door, ready to escort the young Rinn to her meeting. Of course, deep down Sasuke was still feeling a little jealous that he himself wasn’t getting any free tea and biscuits, but he was sure if he put on his best puppy eyes to his mother once he’d dropped Rinn off he may be able to wangle some treats out of her...

“Sasuke, what’s with the bag? The walk isn’t that far, I don’t think we’ll need a.....tent?!” Rinn asked once she’s tied her shoelaces, bemused at Sasuke’s over-packing.

“Rinn, you never know what’s around the corner! It is always _always_ best to be prepared, and I wanna make a good impression on old man Hokage!” Sasuke huffed at his friend, who just responded with a snicker.

“Come on then Mr Bodyguard, let’s go!!”

\------------------------------- _Hokage’s Office_ \-------------------------------

“Thanks Sasuke, for walking me here!” Rinn said once they had arrived, “I wish you could come in with me... Now we are here I’m scared to go in by myself. What if he’s really mean?!” The little girl began to nervously fiddle with her fingers, picking at the skin around her nails.

Sasuke gently grabbed her little hands, “Don’t worry Rinn, I’ve heard the Hokage is a really nice old man, I’m sure he will be OK! Mother always talks quite highly of him. Go on, go in! Then you can tell me all about it when you come out, I’ll wait right here for you OK Rinn?”

Just then, the door slowly slid open revealing the wrinkled face of the third Hokage. He smiled down at the children in a grandfatherly way.

“Ah Firinne, I am glad that you have come to see me. We have much to talk about – Sasuke, I am afraid you’ll have to run along home now, I will be borrowing your friend here for an hour or so.”

“But what about when you have finished Mr Hokage? I’m Rinn’s bodyguard you see, and I need to make sure she gets home OK. I would be _very_ upset if anything were to happen to her Mr Hokage, she _is_ my best friend after all.” Sasuke argued, partly because he wanted to protect his friend, but partly for his own very selfish reasons (Sasuke was a curious child and was hoping to eavesdrop on whatever “talk” they were having). 

The Hokage laughed quietly at the boy’s attempted insolence, he thought perhaps Sasuke was trying to threaten him in his own little way! He admired his spirit however, and his compassion for his friend.

“Sasuke, you may come back in precisely one and a half hours to pick up your friend, how does that sound?”

Sasuke folded his arms and huffed in response. He eventually came around though.

“Fine... Rinn I’ll meet you here in _precisely_ an hour and a half ok?” he said whilst beginning to run off home, “And not a _minute_ later!!” he yelled from down the corridor.

Rinn and the Hokage smiled at one another at the young boy’s antics, after which the old man invited her to have a seat in his office, where there was already a freshly brewed pot of tea waiting for them, and a plate of biscuits, just as Mikoto had said.

“Now then Firinne, let us start from the beginning....”

\-------------------- _Precisely one hour and thirty minutes later-----------------_

The door of the Hokage’s office gently closed behind Rinn as she stood outside in disbelief and shock. Desperately, she looked around for her friend, but he was not there.

_Oh well..._ she thought, _Maybe Sasuke got held up somewhere. I’ll wait another few minutes…_

And so she did. For another thirty minutes in fact. At this point, the realisation hit her that her friend wasn’t coming, and she couldn’t help but weep. The news she had received from the Hokage in their meeting was less than desirable, but she had managed to hold it in so that Sasuke wouldn’t see her cry; now that she was sure he wasn’t coming, she let all of it out. All of the frustration, the sense of betrayal, and the feeling of true and utter helplessness washed over her, and she started to panic.

And so, she ran as quickly as her legs would carry her; all the way back to the Uchiha compound. She hadn’t realised how late it was, and the streets were completely empty. No – they were _unusually_ empty, and almost pitch black, save for the full moon shining its decadent light across the night.

That’s when she saw them both. The shadows in the moonlight.

There, in the street in front of her, stood Sasuke and Itachi. However, the interactions she saw unfolding seemed a lot less than brotherly.

In fact, to Rinn it looked a lot like Itachi was _torturing_ Sasuke – but he wasn’t even touching him? Without thinking, she ran to her best friend, desperate to help him, momentarily forgetting about the possible threat of his older brother.

“SASUKE!!” She yelled as she ran to him. Pulling him off the floor, she shook him to try and get a response – _any_ response from him, yet there was nothing. _What has happened here…?_

Itachi was momentarily taken aback by Rinn’s sudden appearance. _She was supposed to be with the Hokage.. what in God’s name is she doing here? She’s not Uchiha blood, she need not be harmed... But she’s right in the way of my brother… what do I do?_ He thought.

“What are you doing to him Itachi?! Stop it!! STOP IT!!” Rinn cried at the older male, still clutching Sasuke close to her body on the ground.

_I haven’t got much time. I’ll have to scare her off a little bit... or knock her out…_

Itachi responded to the young girl’s question by speedily and expertly throwing a number of kunai at her (not aiming anywhere vital, but she was not to know this), in an attempt to frighten her away.

However, as the kunai flew closer to little Rinn, where there should have been fear on her face there was now only anger, and suddenly...

*BANG* *CRACK*

All of the kunai dropped to the ground as they collided with a strange turquoise sphere surrounding Rinn and Sasuke. However, this sphere was not smooth and protective like the time it had appeared before. It was volatile and dangerous. Itachi could not hide the look of surprise held on his face, and he was about to reach for his shurikan when he realised he was running out of time.

He took one last look at his brother, and then at Rinn, who glared back at him defiantly.

“Look after my brother Rinn” he stated, emotionlessly, and then he took off.

Now that the threat had gone, Rinn’s face softened and her protective shield carefully dissipated.

To say she was confused would have been an understatement. Rinn had absolutely no idea what had just happened, but she had more important things to worry about now.

“S-S-Sasuke..?” She gently sobbed, shaking the boy again. He was awake, but he wasn’t really all there. It was almost like he had gone so far into his own mind that he was now trapped there, unable to escape. She continued to shake him, harder this time.

“Sasuke please say something!! Please! Sasuke!”

Nothing.

“Help!! Somebody HELP!” Rinn yelled, to someone, _anyone_ that would listen, as she cradled her catatonic friend close to her. It soon became clear that nobody was coming, so Rinn decided to run back to the house to get help, and gradually got to her feet. She did not want to leave Sasuke alone, but it was no good for either of them to stay sat in the street on their own, especially at this time of night. Rinn turned, and was about to rush off to look for help but was stopped as a little hand grabbed on to the bottom of her trousers.

Although he was still unable to remove himself from whatever trance he was in, from this small action Rinn was able to tell that Sasuke needed her to stay with him. How could she have even thought about leaving him all alone after what had just happened? She scolded herself for what a bad friend she was. But how would she get help now?

There was only one solution – she would have to carry him.

“Sasuke, I need you to climb onto my back” she said, bending down in front of him and pulling his arms up and around her shoulders. He seemed to somehow understand her instructions, making an effort to do as he was asked, and in no time Rinn was on her feet again, this time with Sasuke in tow, clinging onto her back like a baby koala.

“I am going to find us some help Sasuke, I think we have some medicine at home...” she began, starting to head off in the direction of their house, but a small mumble into her neck stopped her from proceeding.

_I’m so pleased he’s responding at last... I was so worried!_

“Sorry Sasuke I didn’t quite catch that, what did you say??”

“They’re all dead. We can’t go home.” Sasuke mumbled again, barely a whisper.

Rinn’s stomach dropped, and she felt a lump creep up in her throat. She felt sick, but this time she was unable to cry, not even a single tear. She was too stunned to even move, or speak, or...

No. She had to be strong. Sasuke needed help right away.

Rinn’s body took over and soon her little legs had run all the way to the hospital, where she burst through the doors like a mini hurricane, shouting:

“HELP! HELP! MY FRIEND IS HURT! HELP! QUICKLY SOMEONE! PLEASE! HELP!”

And sure enough, the medical staff came running as Rinn’s tiny body finally gave way and she slid to her knees, gently placing Sasuke down onto the tiled hospital flooring. They all exchanged worried glances as they picked Sasuke up and rushed off with him down the corridor...

“Wait!! Wait for me!!” Rinn shouted, trying to run off down the corridor after her friend, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her in her tracks.

“You need to give them space to work, Firinne”, a female voice said from behind her.

“Kurenai-senei?” Rinn turned around to greet the Jonin, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

“Sasuke will be fine in the end, but the doctors need to help him now OK?” Kurenai said gently, bending down to Rinn’s eye level. “Now tell me child, what on earth happened to him? You two haven’t been sparring too hard again have you...?” she began, winking at the little girl, but upon noticing her expression realised that this was no childish playtime gone wrong. Something had happened.

“Firinne, what happened to Sasuke?” Kurenai pressed, the gravity of the situation beginning to slowly dawn on her.

“Sasuke’s family.... They’re all.... D-D-Dead....”

Kurenai’s eyes widened, unable to believe what she had just heard.

“What?! Mikoto, Fugaku and Itachi...? No...”

“Not Itachi... He’s still alive... he attacked us!! And it wasn’t just them! The whole _clan_! All of them! They’re all dead Kurenai-sensei!! And now S-S-Sasuke’s *sniff*...”

“Hush child, Sasuke is not going to die. Shhh Shhhh...” Kurenai gently stroked the child’s hair, standing back up to her full height. “Nurse, please see to it that this young girl has a bed for the night? I have some errands to run.”

The nurse came out from behind her desk, nodded curtly, and took the frightened child by the hand, leading her off to another corridor as Kurenai disappeared out of the nearest window. Rinn was beginning to feel numb and lethargic from both physical and mental exhaustion. Despite wanting to fight this nurse with all her might to go and see Sasuke, she felt her eyes get heavy as she was led into a room with an empty bed in it. The nurse smiled kindly at her, untucking the bed for her so she could get in.

“I’m sure your friend will be all right. I’ll take you to see him in the morning myself if you’d like?” The young nurse proposed.

Rinn nodded and returned the smile.

“Good night then. Sleep well!” The nurse sang as she turned out the lights in Rinn’s room, shutting the door behind her as she left.

Rinn hugged her knees as she tried to drift off to sleep. But her mind was buzzing with everything that had happened. Was Sasuke going to be OK? Where were they going to live now that neither of them had any parents? Who would look after them? Who killed the rest of clan? Surely Itachi couldn’t have done it all by himself.

So many questions were flying around Rinn’s little head, but one in particular kept coming back to haunt her.

_How can I possibly tell Sasuke now, after everything that’s happened, that I have to leave the village?_


	4. Chapter 3

The next morning, Rinn groggily woke up, hoping that yesterday’s events were a hallucination, or some cruel genjutsu. The reality hit her as soon as she forced her eyes open, finding only the four harsh white walls of the hospital room glaring back at her.  
  
_Sasuke..._  
  
Rinn shot out of bed and raced down the corridor to who knows where, no thought given to her current bedraggled appearance as her bare feet pitter-patted from one doorway to the next, passage after passage until she finally looked through the right window.  
  
It was there that she saw him; her best friend. Well what was left of him anyway – he looked awful. Thankfully, there was nobody else in Sasuke’s room. No other patients, no nurses, no doctors. So, Rinn gently opened the door with a *CLICK*, something which Sasuke didn’t even respond to, clearly lost in his thoughts.  
  
In fact, Rinn managed to walk all the way to the young Uchiha’s bedside without him even batting an eyelid. She gently touched his hand, merely to get his attention, but Sasuke flinched and nearly jump out of his skin. At last, his eyes turned to look at her, and softened.  
  
“Rinn”, he stated, as if simply saying her name brought him comfort. He placed his free hand over the top of the one which she placed on his, breaking eye contact with her and suddenly finding their hands deeply interesting. And that’s when she felt it.  
  
*Drip*  
  
As Rinn looked up to find the source of the splash she realised that Sasuke was crying, his grip on her hand tightening.  
  
“Sasuke...”  
  
“I was too weak to save them Rinn! *sniff* I wasn’t strong enough *sniff* I was... I was a coward!!” Sasuke exclaimed, mentally chastising himself, “I’ve lost everything...” he mumbled, more to himself than anyone else.  
  
Rinn didn’t know what to do. What could she possibly say? How can you comfort someone who has lost so much? So, Rinn did the only thing she could think of to support and comfort her friend, and embraced him as tightly as she could.  
  
And Sasuke, for the first time since the previous night, felt something other than sorrow, anger and pain. He felt love. And he clung onto her as if his little life depended on it, frightened to let go of her in case she disappeared like his family had. Rinn could almost feel the desperation radiating from his trembling body, and she very nearly began to speak when..  
  
“I’m sorry Rinn.... That was mean of me. I haven’t lost _everything_. I still have you. And I’m so glad I do. You’re my best friend and I don’t know what I would do without you...”  
Rinn felt a pang of guilt in her chest, her mind casting back to the conversation she had with the Hokage.  
  
_No... I need more time..._  
  
She continued to hold her friend as he let his emotions overcome him, unable to bring herself to say anything at all. Perhaps if she went to speak with the Hokage she could convince him to let her stay...  
  
“Children...,” a voice interrupted, pulling them out of their little bubble. It was Kurenai-sensei again, and Kakashi-sensei too.  
  
_Funny... I didn’t even notice them come in..._ Rinn thought. The children quickly broke their embrace and sat facing the two Jonin.  
  
“We’ve come to speak with you to discuss your new living.... erm... situations” Kakashi began awkwardly. Rinn noticed Sasuke grip at his bedsheets at this remark. _Too soon..._  
  
“The village will provide both of you with your own houses, and they will be next door to each other, so you will never be too far from one another....”  
  
“It’ll be great fun – almost like you are living together like real grown-ups!” Kurenai chimed in, trying to lighten the mood. Naturally, it fell on deaf ears.  
  
“You can make new friends too,” Kakashi continued, “In fact the Hokage said there is a young boy around your age living a couple of doors down, and we have heard he has quite the entertaining character..”  
  
“We can help you bring your things from home, or we can leave you to bring it yourself, whichever you wish” Kurenai interjected, desperately trying to illicit a response from one of the youngsters.  
  
Sasuke said nothing, although the hateful glare he gave the two adults spoke volumes.  
  
Rinn was beginning to feel the atmosphere change for the worst, so quickly and quietly thanked the two Jonin for their trouble, asking if they would show her the location of their new quarters.  
  
Sasuke however, was not impressed by this at all.  
  
“I still have a home!!” He protested, “You can’t just turf me out to some random place just like _that!!_ ”  
  
Kurenai began to open her mouth, seemingly to try and talk him round, but Rinn beat her to it.  
  
“OK Sasuke, you wait here and I’ll go and check it out. I’m curious to see what it’s like, and I’ll tell you all about it when I get back, all right?”

  
She could tell by the expression on his face that he took this as a sign of betrayal, and looked almost wounded that she had sided with _them_.  
  
But what choice did she have? She needed an opportunity to try and barter with the Hokage about her seemingly imminent departure, and she doubted she would get a chance like this in the future. Rinn still felt guilty about leaving her friend, particularly with the state he was in at the moment, so as she was about to step out of the door she had a thought.  
  
She quickly span around, jogged to Sasuke, and planted a quick peck on his unsuspecting cheek, instantly reducing his glare to a sad smile. She was gone again in a flash, running to catch up to the two Jonin and get her first look at their new home… and hopefully an audience with the Hokage.  
  
Sasuke now lay alone in his hospital bed, not quite knowing what to do with himself. He would never admit it, but he actually liked having people around as it served as a brilliant distraction from the reality of what had happened. Especially Rinn - he wished he could spend every waking moment with his best friend, now that she was the only person he had left in the world.  
  
He looked down to his wrist, at the friendship bracelet she had made for him only a month earlier. Rinn wore one much the same, that Sasuke had made for her. Sasuke felt the yarn of the bracelet tenderly with his fingertips, thoughtful about his future now that he and Rinn stood on this earth orphaned and completely alone.  
  
_Rinn... Please don’t be long..._

\--------------------------------------------------------- X --------------------------------------------------------

****

Rinn followed the Jonin to her new living quarters, keeping a few paces behind them. As they walked, she was already plotting how she could escape from Kakashi and Kurenai to pay the Hokage a surprise visit...

“Ah, here we are then Firinne.” Kakashi lazily proclaimed as they approached a row of terraced houses, perfectly identical as far as the eye could see.

Rinn wrinkled her nose in response, as she eyed the buildings with disgust. _No character at all_ , she thought. Trying to be positive, Rinn put on a brave smile and walked confidently to the door which Kakashi was gesturing to. He handed her the first set of keys from his trouser pocket, and allowed her to unlock the door to her new (temporary) home all by herself. Rinn appreciated this small act, as it made it feel more like it belonged to her, like it was _her_ house.

Keen to look around, she wasted no time getting stuck in and quickly ran in and out of every room, getting a feel for the layout and facilities of the house. It was fully furnished already, with two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, and an open plan kitchen/diner and living room downstairs. Although plain, it was nice enough and Rinn began to come round to the idea of having the freedom of her own house and space. She knew how to look after herself reasonably well already, as she often helped Mikoto with the housework and cooking while living with the Uchihas...

_Sasuke._

“Umm.. Kakashi-sensei?” Rinn began.

Kakashi looked up from the sofa, where he was sitting with Kurenai.

“Could we look at Sasuke’s too please?” She asked, fumbling with her fingers.

The two Jonin smiled in response, nodding enthusiastically and quickly rising from the sofa to continue their explorations in the house next door. Rinn locked the door behind them and placed her new keys safely in the zip pocket of her jacket.

Kakashi once again pulled a set of keys from his pocket, unlocking the door of the house directly to the right of Rinn’s; and once again, Rinn swiftly looked around the layout of the house only to find the rooms were completely identical save from the fact that Sasuke’s was the mirror image of hers.

_Nothing wrong with a bit of simplicity I guess... It could be good for us after all that’s happened recently._

Kurenai mistook Rinn’s sudden thoughtfulness for sadness, and quickly interrupted her inner monologue by suggesting:

“You know Firinne, Kakashi and I were thinking... We know you and Sasuke are used to living with one another, so we thought perhaps after you’ve settled in, we could ask if you might be able to have an extra door put in between yours and Sasuke’s houses? That way, it’s like you’re still living together, but you still get to enjoy your own space!

Especially now that you’re getting older, you’ll both start to want to do different things and..”

“Thank you, Kurenai-sensei.” Rinn interrupted, “But I don’t think we will be needing that extra door,” She began to feel nauseous again, as the reality of her impending departure clouded her mind once more.

Kurenai and Kakashi exchanged confused glances, Kakashi responding with a bemused shrug. 

“Ok Firinne, we understand if you want your own privacy...” Kurenai said, breaking the awkward silence, “We had best get going soon, we still need to bring yours and Sasuke’s belongings to your new houses.”

“No! You can’t!” Rinn snapped, so quickly that she even surprised herself. “Sasuke will go crazy, you can’t move his things! He wants to get them himself, if you take them, he will be very angry!” She clenched her fists in frustration, feeling now that the Jonin, although helpful, were beginning to take over and things were moving much quicker than either she, or Sasuke for that matter, were comfortable with.

_It’s like they’re trying to brush it under the carpet... as if the Uchiha never existed in the first place!! How dare they..._

“Firinne. You will need your belongings however you look at it, so we are getting them whether you like it or not. Sasuke will just have to deal with it. He shouldn’t be going back to the Uchiha compound under any circumstances,” Kakashi sternly stated.

Rinn glared at the man, seething at how matter-of-fact he was being about the whole situation.

“There are still dangers there, it’s best not to go snooping,” Kakashi said, and with that Rinn got the feeling their discussion, as well as their tour of the houses, was at an end. Kakashi ushered Rinn outside, after which Kurenai followed, locking Sasuke’s door and presenting Rinn with the keys.

“Right, let’s get you back to the hospital shall we...” Kurenai sang, patting Rinn on the shoulder.

“Actually Kurenai-sensei, I would like some time by myself please. I will see myself to the hospital when I’m finished, thank you.”

Kakashi raised a sceptical eyebrow at her.

“If you’re thinking of going to the Uchiha compound....” he began.

“No sensei. I don’t want to go back there. I just want to be by myself,” Rinn replied, putting on her most trustworthy-looking smile.

“OK... I’ll trust you just this once, but don’t disappoint me young lady. All right?” Kakashi reluctantly said, sighing. Kurenai merely rolled her eyes at the pair, taking it upon herself to physically drag Kakashi away mumbling about how he should “Leave the poor girl alone and stop being such a grumpy old man” or some such...

Rinn breathed a sigh of relief.

_Peace at last. Now I need to get to the Hokage’s office quickly, before they start wondering where I am again._

She started running, hurrying to the Hokage residence as fast as she could. The more time that passed, the more tortuous it was for Rinn, as there was so much riding on the Hokage’s response. Going to look at the houses only heightened her worry, as for one sweet moment, Rinn’s mind tricked her into thinking that they could both lead a simple life there - cooking together, watching films, sharing stories from their missions once they were all grown up....

_Oh... I’m here already._

Rinn had been so lost in her own mind that her body had automatically gotten her to the Hokage’s office without her brain even engaging with it. She took a few deep breaths, and knocked the door as proudly as she could muster with her small fists:

*BANG* BANG* BANG*

The door slid open, and, once again, revealed the smiling face of the Hokage.

“Ah... Firinne... I thought you’d come,” He said, his face suddenly turning grave.

_He’s not alone._

Rinn followed the elderly man into his office, where she found five or six Anbu stood in front of the desk. Although she could not see their faces due to their regulation masks, she noticed their body language suddenly become tense as she entered the room. Rinn furrowed her brows in confusion, and proceeded to stand next to them across from the Hokage’s desk, prepared to wait for her turn.

To her surprise, the Hokage dismissed the Anbu without saying a word, leaving the two of them alone to talk. However, now she was here, Rinn had lost her nerve. She couldn’t bring herself to speak.

Being the kind old man that he was, the Hokage noticed this and tried to approach the subject he was sure she was so desperate to discuss.

“Firinne. I think I know why you have come, and I am sorry but I still cannot allow you to stay in the village until you have completed your training in the mountains,” he said, guilt evident in his eyes.

Rinn’s eyes also showed guilt, but not for herself; for Sasuke. They also showed many other things: frustration, sadness, helplessness... _anger._

“I won’t go Mr Hokage!! I won’t leave my friend and I won’t leave the village! Why do I have to go?! None of the other children are going! It’s so unfair! WHY CAN’T I STAY?” Rinn was getting more frustrated by the second, wondering how on Earth she could be wronged so much over the space of a few days.

“Firinne...”

“Sasuke’s family have _died_! How can I accept that you want me to leave him on his own? How can you be so cruel?!” Blue crackles were beginning to form around Rinn’s little body, gradually becoming more ferocious as it became spherical in shape.

“FIRINNE! This is _not_ about Sasuke! This is about _your_ safety, and the safety of the village!” The Hokage began to raise his voice, his own frustration now becoming evident, “LOOK. Look at your hands,” he said, more softly this time, gesturing Rinn to look down at her now balled fists.

Shaking slightly with rage, she slowly glanced down at her hands, letting out a shocked yelp as she saw them. Around her hands, there was a glowing chakra not dissimilar to that which she often utilised to heal herself and Sasuke’s wounds after friendly sparring matches; but there was one _big_ difference.

This chakra was red.

It was not a bright red, but a deep, dark red, almost black; to someone standing at a distance from Rinn it almost looked like it was blood dripping from her fingertips.

“W-W-What... is this...?” Rinn stammered, eyes still glued to her hands, as if they were something completely alien to her.

The Hokage sighed sympathetically.

“Firinne, you are capable of many things. You have many talents and great power, much of which you are not yet aware. I do not hold all the answers, and I do not know how to unlock any hidden techniques lying dormant within you.

However I do know this: the power which you posses could be a great asset to you, and indeed to the village. You could become a strong ninja, but if you do not learn to control it soon, it could consume you, and you would undeniably be a danger to both yourself and everyone around you.

I must admit the timing of this is.... unfortunate... But I promise you Firinne, I will see to it that Sasuke is looked after, and you can write to each other as often as you like.

After a few years, once you are ready, you may return and I’m sure it will be as if you never left. Think of it like a long holiday,” the Hokage reasoned, trying to explain and persuade the young girl.

Suddenly she realised what she needed to do. She just hoped that Sasuke would forgive her for it.

“How long do I have?”

“2 weeks.”

\---------------------------- _Sasuke’s hospital room, the next morning-------------------------_

The previous night, when Rinn had finally returned from looking at their new accommodation, Sasuke was frantic. She had faced a horrendous interrogation from him upon her return about where she had been for so long, and what she had been doing (she was gone for a lot longer than she had originally hoped), something she really wasn’t in the mood for after her talk with the Hokage. In fact, it ended up doing something to her that she was not familiar with – she was getting annoyed by Sasuke. The feeling went as quickly as it came, but the fact that it had even been there in the first place saddened her deeply.

_Already, we are changed by the events at the Uchiha compound._

This did not go unnoticed by Sasuke, who was noticing the occasional sharp glare in his direction as he asked Rinn yet _another_ question about why she was gone so long after they awoke the following morning.

“Sasuke, I already told you everything that happened. Will you _stop_ with these stupid questions!!” Rinn snapped.

Sasuke’s faced looked hurt, just for a split second, before it turned into a matching glare.

“Well what do you expect me to do when you disappear for so long?! We need to look out for each other now Rinn! We’re all we have left!”

“That doesn’t mean we need to be attached to each other constantly!” Rinn retorted, her frustration rising again.

“You _know_ that’s not what I mean Rinn! I need to know you’re safe, at _all_ times! I can’t lose you like I...... what’s happened to your hand?! It’s bleeding?” Sasuke said, his eyes widening as he pointed at her dominant hand.

Rinn gasped, and, sure enough, there it was again. The strange chakra, dripping from her delicate little fingers; to Sasuke it must look like blood. Rinn breathed in and out deeply, trying to calm herself whilst acting as normally as she could muster, shaking her hand as if it were wet.

_The Hokage was right_

“Rinn? Shouldn’t you ask one of those ladies to help you?! Your hand looks really bad!” Sasuke said, catching an unsuspecting Rinn off guard as he reached forward and grabbed her hand, seeking to try and fix it himself if she would do nothing.

Luckily for her, she had calmed herself enough that the chakra had subsided, and her hand now looked completely normal and unharmed.

“Your hand.... Is OK?” Sasuke stated, clearly gobsmacked at what he saw; he looked at his friend, clearly trying to find answers, but Rinn could not meet his penetrating gaze. She averted her eyes to the floor in shame from the many secrets she was keeping from him.

In perfect timing, before Rinn was forced to answer any awkward questions about what had just happened, one of the Chunin from the academy appeared in the doorway of the hospital room, introducing himself and stating that he had arrived to escort them to their new homes.

Sasukes face quickly turned thunderous, glaring at the floor furiously whilst clenching his fists so hard that his knuckles turned white, his bangs covering his face. Rinn quickly got her things together, and stood up ready to go – she had realised early on that it was pointless to fight the adults on this, and in reality it probably _was_ the best option for them. Sasuke however was not so easily convinced.

“No. I’m not going,” Sasuke stated through gritted teeth.

“You cannot stay in the hospital for the rest of your life, Sasuke,” The Chunin replied, “Now you can either come with me of your own volition we can make you. Obviously I, and your friend here, would rather you came of your own free will.”

Sasuke looked at Rinn through his hair, searching for back up, support... _anything..._

Rinn sighed, walking over to Sasuke.

“He’s right Sasuke.... The hospital needs these rooms for the sick and the injured. Our new houses are really lovely, and I think we will get on well there. Come on...” Rinn said, holding out her hand to the sulking Uchiha.

Sasuke felt a pang in his chest - he felt betrayed.

*SLAP*

He whacked her hand out of the way with ferocity and glared at Rinn venomously. Begrudgingly, Sasuke threw what little possessions he had in the room into a rucksack and stormed past the two others without so much of a backwards glance.

Rinn was still stood in the same spot, saddened but not shocked about what had just happened. Bowing her head low, she too walked out of the room, but she followed quite a way behind as the Chunin ran ahead after Sasuke as he tore off into the distance. They stayed much the same until they arrived at their new front doors, at which point Sasuke roughly snatched his key from Rinn’s extended hand once she eventually caught up, unlocking the door and slamming it behind him.

Rinn stood outside, slightly hurt by this but she understood. The Chunin looked at her sympathetically before making his apologies and leaving the two children to their own means. Rinn took a deep breath and slowly unlocked her own front door, stepping into her new living/dining area before sitting herself down on the floor in the middle of the floor, pulling her knees into her stomach.

_How did it get to this?_

Her eyes cast about the house, which now looked lonely and empty. She had imagined Sasuke would be sharing the space with her, but if things carried on the way they did she worried that would never happen; and then her eyes fell on…

“Oh no...” She said to herself, before she heard a loud and impatient *BANG *BANG*BANG on her front door.

Their belongings had already been brought into the house, and she hadn’t had a chance to prewarn Sasuke.

Already nearly 100% sure who it would be, Rinn got up to her feet and opened the door to the loud intruder, who barged their way past her to the living room in a tiny fury.

“How did all of this get here,” Sasuke said curtly, his back turned to his friend as he shook with anger.

“Sasuke....”

“No Rinn. I asked you a question. _How did all of this get here_ ,” Sasuke repeated, still unable to turn around and face her.

“Kakashi-sensei... and Kurenai-sensei...” she began in response.

“So you knew. You knew they were going to do this. And you stood by and let them go into _my_ family’s home, and go through _their_ things, and make decisions about what to keep and what to get rid of?!”

Rinn stared guiltily at the ground.

“What kind of a friend _are_ you Firinne?” Sasuke seethed.

Rinn felt a tightness in her chest. Sasuke never used her full name. Her eyes began to water.

“Sasuke, the grown-ups already decided?! We can’t tell the Jonin what to do! I didn’t have any say in this either, what do you _expect me to do_?!” Rinn pleaded, getting flustered.

Sasuke turned around, his face contorted with anger.

“SOMETHING RINN! I expect you to do _something!_ ............ anything.......”

Then Rinn noticed that he was holding a delicate trinket in his small hands. She recognised it as an Uchiha family heirloom; a vase on which generations of Uchiha had inscribed their names – including Sasuke and his parents. Seeing the pain on her best friend’s face as he gazed at the vase tore Rinn apart, and it was obvious how special that it now was to the young boy.

“Sasuke... I’m sorry for anything I’ve done to upset you...” Rinn began.

Sasukes eyes darted to her from the vase, and they once again only held anger.

“You’re just like the grown-ups. You’re not listening to a _thing_ I’m saying. It’s not anything you’ve done, it’s what you _haven’t_ done.”

“I don’t understand... What are you trying to say Sasuke?”

“I’m saying I was stupid to think I could count on you, and that you’re a useless friend! I’m _saying_ you might as well not even BE here AT ALL!” he yelled, his rage clearly getting the better of him.

Rinn couldn’t hold it in anymore, and she burst into tears. She too had reached her limit.

“Well Sasuke you’ll be getting your wish sooner than you think!! I’m leaving two weeks from now for the mountains!! Hokage’s orders!!” Rinn retaliated, she too raising her voice.

*SMASH*

Sasuke dropped the priceless vase onto the floor in shock and disbelief, his mouth agape and his eyes wide. And he didn’t even give it a second glance. Now he was much more concerned with the girl in front of him: his best friend, his family... his world.

“W-What?”


	5. Chapter 4

Sasuke’s eyes were glued to Rinn’s now, searching, _hoping,_ for a sign that she was lying. He walked towards his friend slowly, but purposefully, his eyes still boring into her. Sasuke paid absolutely no mind to the shattered family heirloom across the floor, and merely stepped over it as if it never existed as he approached Rinn and gently placed his hands onto her shoulders.

“You’re lying...” Sasuke stated simply, hoping he was speaking the truth.

“I wish I was,” Rinn replied sadly, unable to meet his gaze.

Sasuke’s head dropped to the floor, and he held it there for a short while as he tried to collect himself, still clutching onto Rinn’s shoulders. She noticed his own shoulders moving up and down as he tried to control his emotions by taking deep breaths in and out. When he eventually looked back up at her, his eyes were watery, yet the young boy somehow managed to hold in the tears threatening to fall.

“Why?” He managed to choke out.

“The Hokage wants me to train with a teacher out in the mountains... I have special ‘powers’ which he says are dangerous, and he wants me to learn how to control them properly. Otherwise… Otherwise I could end up hurting people,” Rinn said, at last managing to look her friend in the eyes.

“No! I won’t let them take you!” Sasuke exclaimed, his grip on her tightening as he shook her slightly, as if it reinforced his determination to keep her in the village, with him.

“Rinn.... I know you... You wouldn’t hurt anyone!”

“Sasuke the Hokage’s right,” Rinn began, as Sasuke quickly let go of her, taking a step backwards, his face a mixture of awe and sadness.

“I didn’t want to believe him either. But recently strange things have been happening to me... These ‘powers’, whatever they are, seem to be affected by how I feel, and I can’t control how to use them at all. I need someone to help me Sasuke... I’m… I’m scared!!” She finished, her small body beginning to shake once more. The two children stood in silence, eyes to the floor, for what seemed like forever, when Sasuke suddenly spoke:

“So am I.”

Rinn was slightly startled by the sound, and looked up at him curiously, not quite understanding the boy.

“I’m scared too,” Sasuke clarified.

This time, it was Rinn’s turn to approach her friend, taking her hands in his as she spoke.

“I’m so sorry Sasuke! I want to stay here with you, I don’t want to go but..”

“It’s OK,” Sasuke interrupted, wrapping his arms around his friend and pulling her into a warm, but firm embrace.

“Sasuke...”

“How long?” he asked quietly, mumbling into her neck.

“I have less than two weeks before they come for me... My training could take a few years...”

Sasuke responded with a choked sob, and at last allowing himself to show his emotions, began to weep. He fell to his knees, taking Rinn to the floor with him as he clung to her. The young boy could not understand why all these awful things had happened to him during only a few days. What had he done to deserve this? First his family had been taken from him, by the brother whom he idolized, and now his beloved best friend was being taken too. Was he not worthy of any comfort? Why was this happening? Sasuke felt utterly helpless, as though his life was disintegrating before his very eyes.

Rinn rubbed his back soothingly, still holding him close, silent tears also escaping from her own eyes. When the children released one another, Sasuke had but one request.

“Rinn, can I stay here with you until you go? I want us to spend as much time together as we can before you leave,” he said, wiping his wet face on the sleeves of his shirt.

She smiled at him, nodding in happy agreement. Rinn’s eyes subconsciously wandered to the Uchiha family vase, now lying in pieces on the floor. She felt guilty that her words in some way caused this, as she slowly crouched down closer to it.

“Sasuke… your family’s vase...”

“I can fix it. Let’s just sit down for now,” Sasuke instructed, clearly tired of reminding himself of all the things that had gone wrong that day. He made his way to the sofa, timidly sitting down and switching on the TV with a *click* to try and fill the silence.

Rinn could not bring herself to leave what was left of the priceless vase on the floor, potentially leaving it open to even _more_ damage, so she emptied out the bag which she brought with her from the hospital, and began collecting the pieces of the vase inside it.

“Rinn, I said I can fix it, would you just come and sit down.” Sasuke said, a little more harshly than he intended.

“S-Sorry....” Rinn replied, hurriedly gathering the last few pieces into her rucksack and scurrying over to the sofa to sit next to her friend.

The two youngsters sat as near as they could to one another as the TV blared out whatever uninspiring show was on, almost as if they were protected in their own little bubble, but neither could find within themselves the right words to speak. Despite this, Sasuke and Rinn both enjoyed this closeness, and it brought them comfort until the sun finally set and it was time for them to get some much needed sleep.

Both yawning tremendously, they both dragged themselves up off of the sofa and wandered upstairs, taking it in turns to use the bathroom to change into their pyjamas and parting ways to the two bare bedrooms. Rinn paused as she began to shut her own bedroom door, wondering if she should call out to Sasuke and ask if he wanted to share her room so he wasn’t by himself – they could sleep at opposite ends to each other if he wanted, and frankly she would be glad for the company.

_No... he probably needs some time alone to think about everything..._

So she closed her door with a soft click and snuggled down into her new bed in her new bedroom in her new house, momentarily in disbelief as to where she was and how she ended up here, and little by little managed to drift off into a deep sleep.

Little did she know, the young boy two doors down in the spare bedroom would have given anything for his friend to suggest that they stayed close during the night, for tonight was when the nightmares began...

_\----------------------------------- 1-2 Hours later----------------------------------------_

Rinn awoke to a muffled yelp in the middle of the night, and the noise was so tortured that, at first, she was sure that it came from an animal outside in the street. She was just about to roll over and go back to sleep when she heard a louder, more human shout that sounded like it was coming from down the corridor.

_No! Sasuke!_

As Rinn flew out of her bed and ran down to the spare bedroom to check on her friend, all sorts of worrying explanations for the noise entered her mind.

_Is he hurt? Has somebody broken in? Is it Itachi? Has he come back to finish what he started at the compound?_

As Rinn burst through the bedroom door, she was pleased to find that there was in fact no intruder, and let out a sigh of relief. However, worry was not completely free from her mind as she had a closer look at the boy who, somehow, was still sleeping in the bed in front of her.

Sasuke looked terrible. His body was shaking and covered with sweat, his bangs sticking to his forehead as he breathed rapidly, occasionally thrashing around under the sheets as if he was trying to physically attack the very nightmare that was haunting him (So much that Rinn was worried that he might end up hurting himself).

Rinn softly sat down on the edge of the bed next to Sasuke, carefully calling out the name of her friend as she shook him, in an attempt to pull him out of his slumber. Suddenly, Sasuke shot up, sitting bolt upright with wide eyes. He was panting, and his heart was racing; it took him a while to focus and realise once again where he was.

He felt a hand gently touch his arm, and his eyes looked up to see the shadow of his friend sitting next to him.

_Oh no, I must have woken her up!_

Sasuke placed his head in his hands. Not only did he feel incredibly guilty for being so noisy that she had to come all the way down to where he was, but he also felt incredibly embarrassed. His face burned as he hoped for the ground to swallow him up, and lay back down onto his bed, rolling away from Rinn trying to hide himself under the duvet.

“Thanks for coming to check on me,” He muttered to the wall.

“Sasuke, are you all right?” Rinn asked, sitting further in on the bed trying to get a decent look at his face to see for herself how her friend was.

“I’m fine Rinn. It was just a nightmare. Please go back to sleep, I don’t want to keep you up,” Sasuke mumbled, trying to convince himself just as much as he was her.

“Don’t tell lies Sasuke, you look unwell....”

No response.

“Would it help if I stayed in here with you?” she proposed, for her benefit as well as his. She too was craving the security of being close to her friend.

Rinn just about caught Sasuke hesitantly nodding (it was rather dark in the room), and so she gingerly got in beside him, cuddling up once more to the duvet. Even though they weren’t touching one another, just having each other’s presence brought peace to the children, and for the first time since his family died, Sasuke drifted off into a calm and tranquil sleep.

The following week and few days, this routine continued and Sasuke and Rinn gradually settled into their new lives. The adults would check on them occasionally, and the youngsters began to learn together about all the aspects of running a household, keeping on top of menial chores and how to cook things other than soup and beans on toast! At night time, they would always stay together in the same room as it helped keep Sasuke’s nightmares at bay, and they would still go out to the forest to train in the day.

However, beneath all of this the children were unable to forget the events that led them to this new life, and Sasuke’s thoughts were beginning to fill more and more with dread as the day came that his best friend would have to leave him.


	6. Chapter 5

The day of Rinn’s departure, she awoke to find the little arms of her best friend clutching around her, snuggled up as close as humanly possible.

“Sasuke, are you awake?” Rinn sleepily enquired, the reality of the fact that this was her last day in the Hidden Leaf Village for a long time hitting her, and sickening her slightly.

“I’ve been awake for hours...,” A sniffly voice replied from behind her, his little head still tucked into her shoulder.

Rinn pulled his arms from her, turning round to face him, gesturing him to follow her lead and sit up on the bed. Finally getting a look at her friend, she noticed how terrible he looked; his eyes were red and puffy, with huge black bags under them – it didn’t look like he had slept at all.

“Did you not get any sleep last night?” Rinn asked of her friend, concern evident in her voice.

Sasuke paused for a long while, before carefully answering.

“It sounds stupid... but I thought if I didn’t go to sleep, then it would keep being yesterday and today would never come. And I didn’t want to waste some of our last hours together by sleeping either so....” he trailed off, eyes casting downwards as he became lost in his thoughts once more.

Rinn however was not in the mood for Sasuke’s melancholy attitude on her last day – she wanted to make the most of it and have as much fun as possible! Rinn wanted to go out with a bang, not spend all day moping about the house! She was itching to get out of bed and start a day of fun, and she was going to get her way even if she had to physically drag him around the entire village!

Rinn poked Sasuke in the nose sharply, making him jump and come back to reality.

“Owww Rinn what was that for...”

“Sasuke. We are not sitting cooped up in this house any longer!” She stated jumping off of the bed in a sudden explosion of energy from who knows where, roughly grabbing Sasuke’s wrist and pulling him across the bed so hard that he went flying onto the floor at her feet.

Her little friend glared up at her sulkily from the floor, as if to say ‘How dare you pull me around like your pet rag doll’ and Rinn found this positively hilarious.

She let out a most unattractive snort, and burst into a fit of laughter pointing at Sasuke’s crumpled figure on the floor as she said:

“Y-Y-You know *snigger* you have one of _the_ funniest grumpy faces Sasuke Uchiha!! *snigger* you’re such a little sulker *snigger*.....”

And with that Sasuke launched himself at her, mumbling something along the lines of “Uchihas don’t sulk” and thus crashing both of them to the floor this time in a giggling heap.

As they began to play fight their laughter became louder and finally Sasuke managed to stop being such a grump and allow his face to crack a smile. Spotting this immediately, Rinn quickly reached up and grabbed his cheek, pulling it around as if a grandmother would.

“See? There he is. My fabulous non-grumpy friend Sasuke. _Now_ we can go out and have fun!” She said, the mood in the house already lightening as the children finally began to realise that what was coming was inevitable, so rather than try to fight it and make themselves even more unhappy, they decided to make the most of the hours they had left before Rinn’s escorts arrived in the village.

“So, what shall we do today then?” Sasuke asked, sitting up with a toothy grin still plastered on his face.

“Well... I think we should make a scrummy sweet sugary breakfast first of all. Then shall we go to the woods? Then maybe we could get some nice food out on our way back?” Rinn suggested, also sitting up from the floor.

“Whatever you want Rinn, today is about you.” Sasuke stated. The young boy honestly didn’t mind one bit what antics they got up to in their final day together, as long as he got to spend as much time with her as possible. Sasuke and Rinn sat smiling wistfully at one another for a short while, before Rinn got to her feet once more and headed towards her wardrobe.

“Right Sasuke there’s no time to waste! Let’s get up and get ready for the best day ever!” She said, beaming.

“OK! I’ll quickly go home and shower and I’ll be right back so we can make breakfast OK??”

“Yup – see you in the kitchen!!”

And with that, little Sasuke’s feet pitter-pattered as he hurried downstairs, out of the front door, into his front door, and up the stairs to his room. To be honest, Sasuke rarely slept in his own house – he hated being alone at night, and he began to wonder how he would cope without his friend.

_No Sasuke, you can worry about that once she’s gone. Today must be special. Today must be good._

Shaking his head, trying to encourage himself to snap out of it, Sasuke began to gather his clothes together for the day and proceeded to the bathroom, taking a quick shower and throwing his clothes on, already urgently trying to get himself back to Rinn. As he went back to his room to pick up his shoes, however, Sasuke had an idea and grabbed a fistful of coloured thread from a box underneath his bed. Shoving it into his pocket, he ran back down the stairs, quickly arriving back in Rinn’s kitchen where she was already starting to whisk together some pancake batter. She had also taken out a variety of syrups, sweets and confectionary onto the kitchen top to put with the pancakes, true indeed to her earlier declaration of wanting “Scrummy sweet sugary breakfast” but all Sasuke could do was stick his tongue out in disgust – he despised anything sickly sweet.

“Sasuke Uchiha I ­ _saw_ that!” Rinn exclaimed when she saw his facial expression, turning around and pointing her whisk at him accusingly.

He merely laughed at her in response, clearly not remotely threatened by her choice of weapon.

“Now I _know_ you don’t like nice food, so I’ve put some things out over there,” she gestured toward the corner of the kitchen top with said whisk, “for savoury pancakes, so that you can have some too.”

With all of this whisk-waving she was doing, Rinn was making an awful mess over the kitchen floor so Sasuke took it upon himself to confiscate the whisk off of the young girl.

“Thank you Rinn, I think I’ll take over the whisking now,” he said as he got hold of the whisk, “You sit down, I’ll make us breakfast today. I’ll be much tidier as well....” he teased, poking his tongue out at her.

Rinn’s eyes looked down to the floor in dismay at the splatters of batter all over the floor, and just as she was about to reach for the cloth to clean it up, Sasuke beat her to it once again.

“Sit!” He instructed, feeling very grown up and very much like the man of the house, “I’ll clean that up as well. Do you want a hot drink Rinn?” He asked, deciding that today he would do all he could to make his friend happy.

“Aw thanks Sasuke, I would _love_ a hot chocolate or something, but you don’t have to...”

“Shut up Rinn! It’s your last day today. Let me make it a good one for you. Relax, OK?” Sasuke jokingly scolded, smiling genuinely at his friend. Rinn couldn’t help but beam back. She had forgotten what a happy, thoughtful, and caring boy Sasuke could be. Since the death of his family, he had understandably been a bit worse for wear, but she always knew that deep down he was always there...

“My Snapdragon...” Rinn mused wistfully. Snapdragon had been a little nickname that she had given Sasuke when they were very young. The ‘dragon’ came from his determination to master the fireball jutsu (which Rinn always thought made him look a lot like a dragon) and ‘snap’ because he was such a grumpy little boy. Finding out there was a flower called Snapdragon amused Rinn no end, and it quickly became Sasuke’s new name – she used to call him it all the time, and he would call her...

“Starfish.” Sasuke stated simply, beaming at her once more. He had missed their silly nicknames for each other, it made him feel closer to her whilst also bringing him comfort. Rinn’s nickname was mainly attributed to her coppery-coloured hair, and her affinity with water and swimming (she had once rescued Sasuke when he was trying to show off and almost drowned in the lake). The use of these names did however cause a painful feeling in Sasuke’s heart, and his whisking began to slow down as his mind wandered to darker places once again.

_Snap out of it Sasuke! You’re behaving like an idiot!_

“Batter looks ready!” He suddenly announced, forcing a smile and locking away his melancholy thoughts once again.

Rinn leaped out of her chair in excitement, switching on the cooker and putting oil in the pan, clearly impatient for her breakfast. They continued laughing and joking, remembering happier times as they stuffed their bellies full of pancake-y goodness (both sweet _and_ savoury alike!)

\---------------------------------------------------------- X -------------------------------------------------------

After they had filled themselves up to breaking point, the two children clutched at their bellies ready to doze off, evidently suffering from a ‘food coma’.

“Right! Let’s head out to the forest shall we?” Rinn suggested, almost begrudgingly. Neither of them much felt like moving anywhere after all the food they had eaten, but time was not on their side and they needed to get going!

Sasuke merely nodded in response, holding his arms helplessly up to Rinn like a dead beetle, clearly requiring some assistance to get his now heavier self up from the chair he was sat in. Rolling her eyes, Rinn dragged him up out of the chair and, after putting on their shoes, they made it to the forest in no time. Old habits die hard, and as soon as they reached the small clearing in which they normally trained, Rinn quickly took up a defensive stance as was the norm when they sparred against one another. Sasuke chuckled.

“Rinn, what on _earth_ are you doing?” he said, amused.

“Well why did you think we came here? To _train_!”

“I’m not fighting you today. Come on we are supposed to be doing _nice_ things, not sparring!”

“Sparring _is_ nice Sasuke!” Rinn retorted defiantly. “Besides, you said earlier we could do whatever _I_ wanted today so you should just shut up and fight me like a man!”

_She’s right, I did say that, but..._

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, as if he was about to start sulking once again; but as his fingers touched the thread he had placed in their earlier he remembers his ingenious idea.

“Hey Rinn, I’ve got a better idea for something we can do!”

Rinn’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he had piqued her interest.

“Well, what is it then?”

Sasuke walked towards her and dangled the coloured thread in front of her face. A bemused look overcame Rinn’s face, genuinely unsure what he was getting at here, when he sighed and spelt it out to her:

“Friendship bracelets...?” He said, exasperation evident in his tone.

Suddenly the penny dropped and Rinn started to crack a smile.

“You wanna make some more bracelets for each other before I go?” Rinn asked.

Sasuke nodded in response.

“Aw Sasuke that’s so cute! Yeah let’s do that for sure!” She said excitedly, already snatching the bundle of thread from Sasuke’s unsuspecting hand and selecting the colours that she wanted to use to make his bracelet.

And so, they both sat down back to back (as was the tradition from the last time they made them – they didn’t want the other person peeking) and began to weave their thin, but colourful, bracelets for one another. Rinn, already being very skilled in the ‘girly’ art of bracelet making, was the first to finish.

“All done! You nearly finished Sasuke??”

“Just give me a few more minutes!” He called from behind her, their backs still together as they faced opposite ways. Sasuke was concentrating very hard on making this bracelet for Rinn, as he wanted it to be perfect and be a good reminder of him.

A few more minutes ended up turning into another half an hour, in addition to the almost hour or so Rinn had taken to finish Sasuke’s to begin with.

“Aw man Sasuke you’re _such_ a slow poke.....” Rinn yawned, trying not to fall asleep against his back as she carried on waiting for him to finish weaving the bracelet.

“I’m almost done I swear!” He retorted, now sticking his tongue out as if that helped him concentrate even harder. Another five or ten minutes later, Sasuke tied the final knot and proudly admired his handiwork.

_Phew. Not a thread wrong._

“Rinnnnn I’ve finished yours now too!” he sang, wiggling his shoulders a bit to get her attention as she seems to be almost passing out behind him.

“Oh sorry you took so long I’ve already been to do my training and come back!” Rinn teased, standing and turning around to face her friend so that they could exchange their creations, which they were both hiding behind their backs.

“You first!!” She prompted, and just as Sasuke was about to object she reminded him, “My day, my rules!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes jokingly, bringing her bracelet from behind his back and presenting it to her. Rinn had to admit, his technique was positively faultless, and the weave was perfectly neat and tidy. But what she liked most about it, was the way it reminded her of him. This was also helped by the fact that the threads he chose were:

“The Uchiha colours,” she stated, smiling to herself. Sasuke nodded proudly to her.

“Do you like it?”

“Of course I do Sasuke, now when I wear it I’ll always think of you!” She said, quickly gesturing to him to tie the item around her delicate wrist, just above the other bracelet already sitting there (also made for her by Sasuke). He smiled as he admired his creation further, now that it was attached around Rinn’s wrist. Deep down, he knew that he chose those colours not only to remind her of him, but also to serve as a warning to anyone that might think about messing with her that she was under the protection of the Uchiha.

“Soooo in comparison to the one you’ve made, mine looks a little bit rubbish...” Rinn began, now feeling a little reluctant to hand over the less-than-perfect product of her labour.

“Fair’s Fair,” Sasuke replied, excited to see what his friend had made for him in return.

Sighing, Rinn handed over the bracelet and Sasuke hurriedly picked it up to inspect it. He looked at it for a long while, which cause Rinn to worry that he did not like it.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have rushed....”

“I love it.” He said simply, looking up at her.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what you were worried about.”

“But it’s all messy and...”

“And orange, and unique, and fun and... beautiful – just like you,” he said, smiling at her sweetly with a small blush on his face.

Rinn blushed furiously in response. She too had tried to pick colours that would remind Sasuke of her while she was away, and she was glad he had noticed that, but she hadn’t expected to be called beautiful by her young friend, and it caught her quite off guard.

Sasuke broke the awkwardness by holding his arm out to Rinn, asking her to fasten his new bracelet for him. Like Sasuke, she tied on her creation just above the other bracelet that he wore, also from her. They admired each other’s work quietly, before slowly making their way back to civilisation to try and find another bite to eat, for it was now almost evening.

\--------------------------------------------------------- X --------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting in a quaint family restaurant that they often frequented, Rinn and Sasuke browsed the menu for something tasty to fill their hungry bellies. The owner of the restaurant, a kind and rather rotund middle-aged lady, came over to see how two of her favourite customers were getting on. They had not been in for a meal for a little while, and she couldn’t help but attribute this to the Uchiha massacre – something which most of the village was now acutely aware of. She approached their table, neither of the children noticing as their faces were buried deeply into their menus.

“And how are my two favourite littlest customers this evening?” The lady, Hiro, enquired, causing them both to jump a little in surprise. Rinn responded with a smile while Sasuke glared a little bit, clearly not impressed by being called ‘littlest’.

“We are fine thank you! Just trying to decide what we want to eat – it’s so hard to pick something,” Rinn replied, frowning as her eyes darted around the menu.

Hiro chuckled.

“I’ve certainly missed seeing you both here, you have such excitable spirits!” she said kindly.

“Rinn’s leaving tonight. It’s her last dinner.” Sasuke remarked, out of nowhere, eyes still attached to his menu. Rinn’s eyes flicked over to him, a little taken aback by his comment, and then looked back to Hiro who was looking at her slightly saddened, but inquisitively.

“The Hokage is sending me away for some special training....” Rinn explained, “I could be gone for several years...” She trailed off, her eyes threatening to water.

Hiro smiled sympathetically at her, genuinely disappointed to hear of her departure, yet the kind woman had an idea for how to brighten the mood.

“Well now, we had best give you the best send off we can, hadn’t we? You children order whatever you like from the menu – it’s on the house!”

Sasuke’s ears pricked up and he finally tore his eyes away from the menu.

“Anything..?” He asked.

Hiro chortled at his sudden interest.

“Yes Sasuke, that’s what I said wasn’t it?”

The two youngsters grinned from ear to ear, as Hiro walked away from their table smiling to herself, leaving them to converse excitedly about all the delightful things they were going to have to eat. She couldn’t help but feel disheartened at Rinn’s news, however. The young redhead always brought such light to her restaurant, and she worried about what would happen to her little friend Sasuke once she had gone. Ever since the two of them had started coming to her restaurant, Hiro would always notice how much the little boy adored his friend and couldn’t help but wonder how he would fare after her departure, now that he had no family to comfort him. She hoped her kind gesture of their free meals tonight would help bring them a moment of happiness before they went their separate ways.

A couple of hours later, Sasuke and Rinn were lazily slouching in their chairs, hands clutching at their once more overfilled bellies. They had both thoroughly enjoyed their food, there was no denying it, yet an undertone of dread had began to take hold of the children once they started eating. Their distracted silences grew longer and longer as the night drew on, unable to shake the knowledge of what was coming. They paid their thanks to Hiro, Rinn giving her a quick hug as the kind lady wished her well on her travels. Sasuke could only watch this exchange with a sullen look on his face, wishing against all hope that this was all a bad dream.

_Thirty minutes. They’re coming to take her from me in thirty minutes..._

They walked back to the house quietly to pick up Rinn’s readily packed possessions, neither really knowing what to say to one another. After putting on her huge rucksack (and Sasuke very kindly offering to carry everything else for her), the reality of her leaving suddenly hit Sasuke. Hard.

It took all the self-control he could muster not to let his emotions consume him, and so instead he tenderly linked his arm through Rinn’s as they walked towards the gate of the Leaf Village. Rinn tried to be strong as well, for she too was beginning to realise the gravity of the effect of her leaving would have on Sasuke, mistaking his current placid face as evidence that he had come to terms with everything. Little did she know the internal battle he was facing underneath this facade.

As they approached the gate, they noticed several shadowy figures standing there awaiting their arrival. Upon closer inspection they were revealed to be the Hokage, Kakashi, Kurenai and three ninja they were not familiar with, who they could only assume were those sent to escort Rinn to the mountains. Sasuke’s lip began to tremble as they finally made it to the gate, so he bit down on it firmly to keep his emotions in check. He made sure to look at the floor so he could try and shut out everything that was happening. The conversations that the adults were having with Rinn were all but background noise to him, as a lump threatened to rise in his throat and his heartbeat got louder and faster, starting to become the only thing he could hear until he felt the grip of his best friend’s arm around his disappear.

“NO!!” He suddenly cried out, startling everyone, latching himself back onto her arm, his pent up emotions finally coming out, “NO I _won’t_ let you take her!!”

The adults all looked sympathetically at him, as Rinn turned around to fully face her friend. Her face was also dusted with a glisten of water, showing that she too had been crying.

“Sasuke, I have to go now. I’m so _so_ sorry!” She said, Sasuke still clinging onto her arm for dear life.

He couldn’t take it anymore – his little legs trembled and collapsed from under him, dragging Rinn down to her knees with him. She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, as both of his arms now gripped onto her as he wept.

“Please don’t leave me...” He whispered almost inaudibly into her ear as she held him, “You’re all I have.”

Rinn’s heart broke as the guilt washed over her once more, but what could she do?

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as she was Sasuke, “Just don’t forget me OK?”

“Rinn, I could never...”

“Achem...” The Hokage interrupted, “Firinne...”

He needed to hurry her departure along, it was a gruelling journey to the mountains and the longer they delayed, the worse it would be for the young girl.

Rinn exhaled deeply, half in annoyance, half to catch hold of her breath, and dragged both herself and Sasuke to their feet. Letting go of him, she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in the eye and said:

“Promise me you’ll write?”

“Of course I will Rinn! I promise,” Sasuke replied, still sniffling.

His teary eyes looked back at his friend, and he tried to memorise as much of her as he could, taking everything about her in and locking it away somewhere safe in his head. He didn’t know how long it would be until he would next look upon her. They embraced one final time, before Rinn turned around to make her exit. Sasuke, in one last act of desperation, grabbed onto her hand, but they both knew it was futile now, as he looked at her pleadingly before Rinn sadly let go of his palm and disappeared into the night.

Sasuke let out a cry of anguish as he leaned himself against a nearby wall, beside himself with grief, his small arms wrapping around himself as he struggled to breathe. Kurenai and Kakashi exchanged worried glances, and the latter bent down and picked up the child to take him home, expecting a great deal of protest from Sasuke. However there was none. The young boy hadn’t the strength to do anything but weep at that moment, allowing himself to be carried all the way home and placed in his bed by the Jonin, before they too left him.

Sasuke, now in the house by himself, curled up into a ball under his warm quilt. This was the first time since he and Rinn had moved into this accommodation that he had actually slept in his own house, in his own bed, and it felt awful. Sasuke carefully fumbled with the bracelets on his wrists, seemingly the only thing that he had left of her now. A feeling of dread swept over him as he knew what was waiting for him as soon as he closed his eyes – the nightmares would surely be back for him in full force now that he didn’t have his friend there to comfort him.

And he had never felt so alone.


	7. Interlude: Letters from the Mountains

_Sasuke,_

_I hope you’re doing well._

_It’s only been a week since I arrived but I already feel like I’ve learned a lot. The old lady who is my superior has put me on a tough training regime, but deep down she’s a kind old thing. Her name is Akii, I think you would like her – she makes lovely food, lots with tomatoes so you’d love it. I wish you could visit, I miss you already._

_How is the academy going? Have you learned anything cool since I left? I feel like I’ve been gone forever already!_

_Are you looking after yourself OK at home? I hope you’ve started unpacking those boxes of stuff at last, if they’re still there when I get back I’ll make you suffer!!_

_Please write soon!_

_Rinn x_

~X~

_Rinn,_

_It’s so great to hear from you. I’ve been looking out for a letter from you and am pleased that you’ve arrived safely. Your sensei sounds great, tell me more about your training?_

_I haven’t been back to the academy yet._

_I miss you terribly._

_I hope you can come back soon._

_Your Snapdragon x_

~X~

_Snapdragon,_

_I hope you’re OK, from your last letter you didn’t sound like yourself. It’s unlike you to miss out on your studies. Please go back to the academy, I hate to think of you sitting in the house by yourself day in day out. You have such talent, please don’t let it go to waste._

_Akii-sensei has told me that I shouldn’t tell you much about my training from now on. She’s worried our letters might fall into the wrong hands and that could put the village at risk. I promise I’ll tell you everything when I finally come home, but all I can say for now is that it is still going very well, I am progressing quickly and am capable of things I never thought possible._

_I was hoping to find out about my parents, Akii-sensei definitely knows something I think, but she is such a secretive woman._

_It really is beautiful up in the mountains, I wish you could see it._

_Write soon!_

_Starfish x_

~X~

_Starfish,_

_Sorry it has taken me longer to write. I went back to the academy like you said, and am trying my best to train as hard as I can, so have been really busy. I look forward to hearing about what you’ve been up to when you come back, because you’re doing so well, maybe they will let you leave sooner?_

_I’ve unpacked everything now like you said, and I’m trying to keep your house as nice as I can too so that it’s ready for when you come home. I hope you don’t mind but I stay there some nights, it helps._

_Will you draw me a picture of what you can see up in the mountains? You were always so good at drawing, and then I can imagine where you are which will make it seem like you’re not so far away._

_Still missing you._

_Your Snapdragon x_

~ X ~

_Snapdragon,_

_I’m so glad you’ve gone back to the academy. Don’t worry about taking longer to write, I understand how difficult it can be to find the time whilst training._

_Although I’m progressing well, it’s only been a few months since I left so I don’t think I’ll be able to come back for a while. Akii-sensei says there are many sides to my power, and I have to become a master of all of them before she will release me back to the Leaf._

_How is your fire justu coming along? That was always my favourite._

_I hope you’re OK and have made some more friends at the academy. The little blonde boy who lived a few doors down from us always seemed nice._

_I’ve drawn you something, it’s not very good but I hope it’s OK. We move camp quite a bit so I could send you something from each stop if you’d like?_

_Starfish x_

~ X ~

_Starfish,_

_I would love it if you sent me some more drawings, the last one was great._

_Beginning to find it difficult here without you. Nobody knows me like you do. I think people are avoiding me on purpose because of what happened to my family._

_Please come back soon._

_Your Snapdragon x_

~ X ~

_Snapdragon,_

_I know it’s hard but please stay positive – I’m beginning to worry about you._

_I’m sorry if I’ve been distant recently, but training has been gruelling and all I’ve managed to do besides train is eat and sleep. I promise I’ll try harder though, I’ll write to you every month in future to check on how you are (and send you a lovely view from the mountains of course!)._

_I hope you’ve made some more friends now you’ve had some time. Another two children my age have joined us, both with their own individual powers which are very different to mine. They seem nice, I hope they can become my friends._

_If the other kids are being horrible, just show them the Sasuke I know and I’m sure they would love to be your friend. Sometimes you have to extend your friendship to others, if they are too caught up in their thoughts to risk it themselves._

_Keep your chin up,_

_Starfish x_

~ X ~

_Starfish,_

_Love your pictures as usual._

_Glad you’ve found some new friends._

_Don’t forget me._

_Snapdragon x_

~ X ~

_Snapdragon,_

_Is everything OK? Your last letter was quite short, I hope everything is all right. I still worry about you._

_I have been put in a squad with the two boys that are here, and we are already working on our formations and battle technique, although our individual training is kept separate. My teammates are called Shichiro and Tatsuo, one of them reminds me of you actually – he’s very grumpy and very good at fighting!_

_We are moving closer to the waterfall for our next base, I’ve heard it’s very beautiful so I’ll be sure to send you some sketches of it._

_How is your training going, have you made it to Genin yet? Are you still living in the same place?_

_Miss you,_

_Starfish x_

~ X ~

_Snapdragon,_

_Sorry to pester you again, but it’s been a few months since I last heard from you. Have you been getting my drawings? Are you OK?_

_Please write soon._

_Starfish x_

~ X ~

_Sasuke,_

_It’s been another month now and I’m starting to get really worried about you._

_Has something happened?_

_Are you coping all right?_

_Please reply as soon as you can._

_Rinn x_

~ X ~

_Sasuke,_

_Have I done something to upset you? Please write back. I need to know you’re OK._

_Rinn_

~ X ~

_Sasuke,_

_Word from the village says that you’re doing well, so I can only assume there is another reason as to why you are not replying to my letters._

_It has been a year and a half since I left now, so I understand that we might have outgrown each other. I hope that when my training is finished that we can still be friends, but for now I think that there is little point in me sending letters to someone that does not wish to receive them._

_The last thing I want to be to you is a nuisance, Sasuke._

_Your friend,_

_Rinn_

~ X ~

_Dear Sasuke,_

_I know it might seem strange receiving a letter from me after all of these years. In truth, there’s part of me that doesn’t even know why I’m writing this, but nothing ventured nothing gained right?_

_Akii-sensei is happy that I have completed my training at last, and myself and my squad will be returning to the Leaf to compete in the upcoming Chunnin exams._

_All going to plan, I should be leaving today!_

_I know things between us have been tricky since I left, but I would love to see you when I get back. I have really missed you, but I understand if you don’t want to see me. We are different people now, not the little kids that used to play together years ago._

_I hope to see you soon._

_Best wishes,_

_Firinne_


	8. Chapter 6

Sasuke’s hands shook as he scrambled to open the post that he had come home to. Well, one item in particular – he’d recognise that handwriting anywhere.

_Rinn..._

Trying to calm his nerves, his heart raced as he read her note, and he was suddenly overcome with an onslaught of different emotions. Of course, he was over the moon and incredibly excited to hear that his best friend was finally coming back to the village after all this time! He wondered what she looked like now, what awesome new skills she had learned in the mountains, and whether she still thought of him as her best friend.

And then it hit him... guilt. Dread. He had all but ignored Rinn for the past few years, not because he wanted to but because it was the only way he managed to cope in her absence (amongst other things...). Sasuke had buried his head in the sand, and now he was going to have to deal with the consequences of it.

Would she forgive him for cutting her off? Would she still want to be his friend when she came back? Now he was worried, frightened even. After all the time he had spent fantasising about the day she would come back, he suddenly realised how different it could be in reality, and he had nobody to blame but himself.

*SLAM*

Sasuke threw his fist against the wall in frustration, eventually leaning his back against it and sliding down the wall so that he was sitting, knees up. He still clutched Rinn’s letter (very delicately for such a heavy handed young ninja...), and read it over and over, just to convince himself that it was really happening, at last. He pictured how she might look now, how she might behave, and he realised he didn’t know anything about her anymore. Sasuke let out a defeated sigh, running his hands through his jet black hair and finally getting to his feet.

_I’ll just have to get to know her again, if she’ll let me._

_\------------------------------------------------ X--------------------------------------------------------------_

The next day, Sasuke woke up wondering if he’d dreamt the events of the previous evening, and before he knew what he was doing his feet had stumbled him all the way downstairs where the letter from Rinn still lay on the table. Running his finger over it gently, he read it through once more before he quickly got ready for his day of training...

_\--------------------------------------------------------------X--------------------------------------------------_

*WHACK*

“All right! I got him again!!”

“NARUTO! Stop beating up Sasuke!!”

“Well if _Sasuke_ would actually pay attention then maybe it wouldn’t be so easy for me to deck him!”

“I swear if you so much as harm a _hair_ on his head I’ll....”

“NARUTO! SAKURA! Stop all this arguing will ya? You’re giving me a headache and I can’t concentrate on my book,” Kakashi interrupted, fed up of Sakura and the blonde’s incessant squabbling.

“Well you should be _training_ us then rather than reading your pervy books!” Naruto retorted, pointing at Kakashi accusingly, “You’re not even paying attention to what we’re doing!!”

_I hate to say it but Naruto’s got a point…_ Sakura thought, eager to see where this was going to end.

Kakashi sighed and rolled his eyes.

“All right, all right. I’ll watch you spar. But only once, then I’m getting back to my reading, got it?” Kakashi reluctantly said.

Naruto grinned, keen to show off to his sensei how easy he was finding fighting Sasuke today. Speaking of which....

“SASUKE! WHERE ARE YOU? GET OVER HERE YOU SCAREDY CAT!!” Naruto bellowed, holding his hands around his mouth in an attempt to broadcast his voice further still.

Sasuke landed in front of Naruto with a soft thump, leaving his spot on the tree branch above and greeting Naruto with a rather unimpressed look on his face.

“Quit your yelling loser. What is it?” Sasuke asked, folding his arms and glaring at the blonde, raising an eyebrow sceptically.

“You and me! One on one! Let’s go!” Naruto replied, taking up his fighting stance, quickly glancing over his shoulder to check that Kakashi was still watching.

Sasuke clicked his tongue in irritation, before turning his back on his teammate.

“Not again. It’s just a waste of time. Can’t you fight Sakura instead?” He said, beginning to walk away from Naruto to find himself another tree, further away.

Naruto grabbed him by the shoulder, forcing him to spin around.

“Stop being so high and mighty and fight me!” Naruto shouted, already getting riled up by Sasuke’s superiority complex.

“You know Sasuke, you should probably make a bit more effort with your training if you want to pass the Chunnin exams... You’ll more than likely be fighting people from other countries in the assessments, so it won’t do you any harm to entertain your teammate in this instance,” Kakashi sensibly explained, keen to ensure his team’s survival in the upcoming exams.

“Tsk. Fine,” Sasuke hesitantly agreed, activating his Sharingan.

Kakashi watched the ensuing battle with great interest, as he witnessed Naruto managing to put Sasuke on the defensive for most of the match. This was most unlike Sasuke, who normally had absolutely no trouble blocking and countering Naruto’s attacks. He couldn’t quite put his finger on it, but Kakashi thought that Sasuke seemed quite... distracted.

“All right. Sasuke, Naruto –that’s enough. Let’s stop for lunch” Kakashi interjected, breaking up the fight. He’d seen enough and they’d been fighting for over an hour.

“What! But Kakashi-sensei...” Naruto whined.

“I said enough Naruto. Go and eat your lunch. Besides, I need to have a little chat with Sasuke.”

The said Uchiha glared defiantly at his sensei, half of him thinking of taking off before Kakashi could start speaking to him but the more studious side of him forced him to stay put.

“Is there anything you’d like to talk about Sasuke?” Kakashi asked, casually leaning on a tree trunk in front of his student.

Sasuke glared daggers at him in response, now wishing he’d taken off whilst he’d had the chance.

“You know... While I was watching you fight Naruto you weren’t your usual self. You seemed distracted. Careless.” Kakashi pressed.

Sasuke clenched his fists in irritation, but he couldn’t be annoyed at his sensei because he was right - he was distracted. The fact that Rinn was now coming back to the village meant that his mind was all over the place, he just couldn’t think about anything else.

“Is there anything I can help with Sasuke...?” Kakashi pushed, keen to know what was troubling his pupil.

Sasuke sighed. He didn’t want to tell him too much. But he did need to be prepared for his best friend’s return and so...

“How long does it take to travel from the mountains to the village?” Sasuke asked.

_So that’s why he’s distracted..._

Kakashi raised an eyebrow, everything becoming suddenly clear.

“I’d say about 8 days, weather permitting...” Kakashi said, grinning to himself.

_Rinn’s letter was dated 6 days ago when it arrived yesterday, which means...._

_Shit._

_She’ll be arriving tomorrow!_

Sasuke’s expression suddenly became slightly panicked as he realised how soon Rinn could be arriving, and this did not go unnoticed by Kakashi.

“Is... everything ok Sasuke?” Kakashi asked, rather smug that he’d worked out what was going on yet Sasuke had no clue that he had been found out.

Sasuke began to walk away from his sensei, and then just as he was about to pass his teammates he stopped and called back to Kakashi:

“Everything’s fine Kakashi. I have things to do this afternoon, so I’ll be going now. I’ll also be missing training tomorrow. See you guys soon.” He called out, holding his hand up as he walked away from all of them.

“WHAT? Kakashi-sensei surely you can’t let him miss out on nearly two days’ training? What about the Chunnin exams?!” Naruto exclaimed accusingly, mouth full of food whilst pointing his chopsticks first in Kakashi’s direction, then to that of Sasuke’s slowly disappearing figure.

“Yes sensei, what about our preparations for the exams?” Sakura pressed, although she was more concerned about missing out on spending more time with Sasuke than becoming stronger for the upcoming events.

Kakashi chuckled to himself, before casually opening up his book once more.

“Sasuke has things he needs to do, so I see no problem letting him have some time off. He _is_ the strongest team member after all....” He trailed off.

_That should be enough to get them riled up. Hopefully it will encourage them to train harder, they’ll be facing some tough opponents in the exams._

Kakashi watched Sasuke’s form disappear into the distance as Naruto started mumbling about being stronger than Sasuke, shortly followed by a scolding from Sakura.

_\-----------------------------------------X--------------------------------------------------_

Sasuke struggled with his shopping bags as stumbled into Rinn’s house. Even though he had stopped replying to her letters, Sasuke had carried on keeping her house clean and dust free the whole time she had been gone. It had made him feel closer to her whilst she was away, and by looking after her house he felt that in some strange way he was also looking after her, and it brought him comfort. He placed the bags down onto the kitchen-top, and began to unpack the groceries – he wanted to make sure she came home to a full fridge and full cupboards, especially after she had been through such a long journey. Next, Sasuke took out various items for the bathroom and ran them upstairs; things like shower gel, shampoo, toilet paper and so on. Other than that, the house was in the same condition she had left it in, so Sasuke didn’t tamper with it too much. He sat on her sofa for a while, contemplating an endless chain of combinations of what might or might not happen tomorrow when she arrived, before realising he should probably go home and make some dinner.

After he had eaten, Sasuke washed an put away his dishes and wandered up to his bedroom for another night of broken sleep, getting into his bed. He never slept well anymore, not since Rinn left the village. Sure enough, around an hour later he awoke in a cold sweat, panting and heart racing. Cursing as he went, Sasuke threw back his covers and wandered downstairs to his kitchen. After splashing his face with water in an attempt to freshen up, Sasuke reached into the cupboard under the sink to pour himself what he like to call his “Night cap”. Eyeing the bottle, he wondered for the first time what Rinn would think of his use of alcohol to help him sleep, but this thought quickly turned sour as his grip on the glass tightened.

_Well she shouldn’t have left then should she?_

*SLAM*

He forcefully crashed the now empty glass on the table. Sasuke was torn. On the one hand he was still raw and seething about the fact that she had left in the first place, and that he even cared what she thought of him after all this time – she didn’t even know him anymore. She didn’t know the struggle that he had gone through whilst she had been gone. However, on the other hand, he was annoyed with himself for blaming her for leaving when he knew she had no choice in the matter, and he also knew that it had been him that had tried to cut ties with her by not continuing to write. Now that he looked back, he deeply regretted not maintaining contact with her, and he was becoming increasingly nervous about seeing her. Sasuke swore again, slamming his fists down onto the kitchen-top in frustration, before calming his breathing and trudging back upstairs to try and get some sleep. Unfortunately for the Uchiha, his mind was wired, and he was tossing and turning all night.

_\--------------------------------------------X--------------------------------------------_

Sasuke awoke to his morning alarm thoroughly exhausted. He hadn’t managed a wink of sleep through the night as he was too busy worrying about Rinn’s arrival, but he couldn’t let that get in his way now. He had to make sure he was there to meet her as soon as she stepped foot into the village.

Getting out of bed, he spent more care and attention than usual scrubbing up in the shower, and he checked his reflection nervously several times before he left the house. He mentally scolded himself, what was he so worried about? This was his best friend Rinn, what did it matter how he looked? Pushing these strange feelings from his mind, he made his way to the main gate of the Leaf Village.

As he approached the gate, he stopped and stood, waiting. However, after ten minutes or so his pride got the better of him, and he started to think how foolish he looked. What would everyone think if they saw him waiting there alone like a little puppy dog? He simply couldn’t allow it. So, to fix his problem, he decided to climb a nearby tree and sit up on a branch within the leaves where he was less easy to see, and waited there instead, going over and over in his head what he would say to her when she arrived.

_\-------------------------------------------X---------------------------------------------------------_

“Say, Rinn? How far is it now to the village?” Tatsuo asked, running up to his teammate and draping an arm around her. Tatsuo had grown into a handsome young man, with orange spiky hair to rival even Rinn’s, and a tall muscular build with chocolate brown eyes.

“Yeah Rinn, how much longer do we have to walk for?” Shichiro joined in, also running up behind her. Shichiro was not as much of a stocky build Tatsuo, but he was also an attractive individual; with piercing blue eyes and shaggy shoulder length black hair. He also had black rune-like tattoos on the sides of his neck which Rinn always found quite beautiful in their own way.

“Don’t you boys remember how far your own home is?!” Rinn mocked, giggling at them.

“Hey we left when we were younger than you, cut us some slack will ya??” Tatsuo replied, letting go of Rinn and giving her a playful shove.

“Now now Tatsuo save your play fighting for the Chunnin exams,” Their sensei, Toru chimed in, smiling at his team. He had blonde hair not dissimilar to that of Naruto’s, although it was slightly longer and choppier, and wore a menacing looking black cloak. Despite this threatening image to the innocent bystander, Toru in reality was a massive wind up merchant and although very powerful was not that much more mature than the students he was teaching.

“Don’t insult me sensei! I won’t be play fighting in the Chunnin exams!” Tatsuo huffed, Toru’s comments obviously getting to him.

“Hmm… I didn’t know you were capable of anything _but_ play fighting Tatsuo,” Shichiro chuckled, earning a glare from his comrade.

“Well if you ask me, _both_ of you are only capable of play fighting, and I’m gonna beat _both_ of your asses into the dust in these exams!” Rinn added, howling with laughter.

Toru, who by now was walking ahead of his squad, suddenly heard a yelp and turned around to find them in a heap on the floor, the two boys obviously having leaped on top of Rinn in protest of her previous comments. Toru merely laughed, scratching the back of his head as he carried on walking ahead, leaving them to squabble and giggle amongst themselves.

_\-------------------------------------------X----------------------------------------------------_

Sasuke sighed in annoyance as the third or fourth squad that did not contain Rinn arrived through the gates to the Leaf. He had been waiting in the tree, watching the road like a hawk, for the past few hours now, and he was beginning to get hungry. Sasuke could not bring himself to go and get some food however – he was terrified he would miss her arrival and he would never forgive himself if he did. He sighed once more, adjusting his position in the tree, silently wishing he’d been less distracted that morning and actually brought some food with him. He turned his eyes back to the road, his heart speeding up for the fifth time that day as he saw another group of people approaching the village.

As their figures grew closer, he noticed a flash of orange hair.

His breath hitched.

_Is that....?_

Sasuke began to get to his feet, eyes sharp on the figures approaching.

“Damnit!!” Sasuke exclaimed in anger as the figures grew closer, and he realised that this orange-haired individual was in fact male. He figured they must just be yet _another_ squad arriving for the Chunnin exams, although if he was honest he thought the third team member walking ahead of them looked at least ten years older than them and quite out of place.

As the group came even closer still however, the two younger boys lagging behind got pushed to either side, as a sprightly character sprung through from between them, beaming as she looked up at the gate to the Leaf Village.

Sasuke’s heart stopped.

“Rinn!” He said, before realising she was too far away to hear him. He was about to jump down and run up to her but his body had him rooted to the spot. His stomach had the feeling like he was falling, and his hands and legs were shaking.

“For god’s sake Sasuke, _move!_ ” He said to himself, willing his body to do what his mind commanded, telling himself to stop being such a coward. Sasuke saw Rinn’s bright eyes look around frantically, now looking ahead of the gate, despite not having crossed it yet herself.

_Is she looking for... me?_

Sasuke finally managed to get a hold on himself and leaped down from his lookout post in the tree, running towards her as quickly as he could, no longer giving a damn _what_ he might look like to anyone that might be watching.

Rinn stopped dead in her tracks, her face showing an expression of disbelief, followed by complete and utter joy as her she saw her friend approaching. She dropped all of her bags and was about to start running to him herself but he was so quick he got to her before she could even take a step forward. Rinn began to slightly open her arms, hoping to catch Sasuke in an embrace as he reached her, but she could almost see on his face the very moment he decided to stop himself as he quickly skidded to a halt in front of her.

Once again, Sasuke panicked. But this time his eyes were absolutely glued to his friend, mouth slightly agape as he got his breath back. He was absolutely mesmerised by the sight of her, and he couldn’t look away. Her wild orange hair was now cut to a few inches below chin length, had a quirky wave to it and he loved the way one side was tucked behind her now multiply pierced ear. She had grown to have a great figure - not too slim whilst also strong-looking. Her face had become more mature and almost elfin-like. He at last looked into her emerald eyes, one of his favourite things about her, and he had to fight the urge to let his eyes water when he saw how vibrantly they still sparkled. She was beautiful.

Realising what an idiot he must look, he let himself crack a now rarely-seen smile as he reached for her wrist.

“You still have these?” He asked her, gesturing to the bracelets that he made her, which she still wore proudly.

“Sure do! I see you still have yours too Sasuke!” She said, beaming, taking Sasuke’s hand in hers, inspecting his bracelets that she had made for him when they were younger. This caused Sasuke to blush immensely, and he slowly took his hand back, flustered.

“Of course I do Rinn, why wouldn’t I?”

“Oh I dunno... Now that you’re a big manly ninja and all, I thought they might cramp your image,” Rinn teased, poking his arm.

Sasuke smiled to himself, “Don’t be silly, these are never coming off!” He said, poking her back.

The two just beamed at each other, both feeling unsure and awkward about what to say and do, but they could not take their eyes off of one another.

“Sooo... are you two just gonna stand there all day? Who’s this Rinn?” Tatsuo interrupted, prodding her in irritation for being ignored for so long. In truth, she had completely forgotten her teammates and sensei were even there the moment she had laid eyes on Sasuke.

“Haha I’m sorry guys! Sasuke, these are my teammates Tatsuo and Shichiro, and my sensei Toru. Guys, this is Sasuke, my best friend!” Rinn said, gesturing to each person as she said their names.

The boys mumbled their bumbling acknowledgements to one another and then the group stood in silence once more, still not passing through the gates to the Leaf. Strangely enough, Sasuke was the first to break the silence.

“Rinn, let me help you with your bags. We should probably go inside the village,” he said, picking up all of her things, so that all she had left to carry was her small shoulder bag draped across her body.

This act of kindness earned a glare from Rinn’s darker haired teammate who huffed off ahead, dragging Tatsuo behind him through the village gate and off into the distance.

“Well, I’d better go after them and find out where we are staying. We will rest tomorrow Rinn, but the day after I expect you at the training grounds 9:30am sharp, OK?” Toru instructed, scratching the back of his head nervously.

“Sure thing sensei, see you then!” She replied, before he took off after the rest of his squad. 

She then turned to her friend, who unbeknownst to her had not stopped watching her since she arrived.

_I can’t believe she’s really here. Am I dreaming?_

“So Sasuke, where to now??” Rinn asked, keen to get moving.

“Home?” He replied, smiling happily at her.

“That’s the best thing I’ve heard all day!”


	9. Chapter 7

Rinn did most of the talking as they made their journey back to home, and Sasuke didn’t mind one bit. He had forgotten how good it made him feel to be around her, and he was enjoying watching her, hearing her animated and funny descriptions of her journey back to the Leaf Village. As he carried her bags along the path, he could not stop smiling – it was beginning to make his face ache a little if he was honest, having not smiled this much for years.

Sasuke began to lose himself in fond memories of his childhood antics with Rinn, so much so that his feet walked on autopilot and before he knew it, he had reached Rinn’s front door without even realising, finding her expectant eyes gazing at him. Sasuke figured that she was simply waiting for her keys and bags (he was completely wrong of course), and mumbled a “Sorry” her way before popping her luggage gently onto the floor and rummaging in his pocket for the keys to her house. He unlocked the door, picking Rinn’s bags up and placing them just inside the front door. Turning to face her once again he was confused to find the same expectant expression on her face. What had he forgotten? The two stood in an awkward silence for a while. After a couple of minutes Rinn sighed wistfully and finally spoke:

“Thank you, Sasuke, for bringing my things to the house... and for looking after my keys...” she began to trail off, looking at her hands and fiddling with them clumsily.

Sasuke coughed and cleared his throat, nodding curtly.

“I’ll... um.... leave you to get re-acquainted with your old home then Rinn. I’ll be next door if you need me...” he replied, beginning to turn away from his friend.

Rinn grabbed his wrist desperately, that same expectant look in her eyes. Sasuke’s dark orbs looked back into them, searching them for a sign of what it was she wanted, his heart beginning to thump a little faster in his chest at this unexpected physical contact.

“Won’t you come in Sasuke? Please don’t go...” she asked, looking at the floor, slightly embarrassed at her unexpected boldness.

Sasuke’s eyes widened, secretly leaping for joy inside that he could spend more time with her. Yet, in typical Sasuke fashion, he kept his emotions well hidden and merely nodded in reply, blushing slightly. Rinn continued to grip Sasuke’s arm as she beamed at him, dragging him into the house behind her and gently closing the front door.

She only managed to take a couple of steps forward before she stopped in her tracks, eagerly casting her eyes all around the house, taking it all in. She hadn’t realised how much she had missed her ‘creature comforts’ until this very moment, after sleeping in makeshift camps and tents for the past few years she had learned to appreciate the little things. Sasuke her watched in silent admiration, folding his arms and leaning up against the wall, as Rinn delicately ran her hand over the kitchen tops, as if greeting an old friend. Tentatively, she began to open one of her cupboards, not expecting to find anything inside, when suddenly:

* _Gasp*_

Rinn let out a quiet squeal of shock, and Sasuke came immediately running to her rescue, panic evident on his usually stoic face.

“What’s the matter?!” He asked worriedly, first standing behind her then bending down to rummage in said cupboard to try and locate the source of her fright. Sasuke then felt an appreciative squeeze on his shoulder, before standing up and turning to look at his friend with a puzzled look on his face. Her eyes looked watery, but she didn’t look sad.

“Sasuke, did you do this?” she asked quietly, a soft smile on her face.

“What do you mean?” he said, still unsure what had caused Rinn to gasp the way that she had.

“My house is as spotless as the day I left it, all the rooms smell fresh and beautifully clean, and now I open my cupboard to find fresh food and all I could possibly want to cook lovely meals...” she began, again taking both of his hands in hers and giving them a gentle squeeze, smiling up at him.

Sasuke blushed yet again, still unprepared for any sort of physical contact that didn’t involve sparring or trying to kill someone. He mumbled something incoherent before squeezing Rinn’s hands back and letting go of them quickly, going to sit down at the breakfast table, feeling the sudden need to get a hold of himself. He wasn’t appreciating all of the things his brain, and indeed his body were making him feel at the moment – in all honestly he felt pretty powerless. Rinn of course followed him, also taking a seat at the breakfast bar.

“You know, part of me wasn’t even expecting to see you when I arrived back. But this... I just want to thank you Sasuke. For looking after my place this whole time, and for thinking to get some food in for me - and for bringing my bags all the way here! You’re still such a wonderful friend, and I’m so glad to be back here with you at last. I’ve really missed you.” Rinn said, blurting out her thoughts once again without even thinking.

_*Silence*_

Sasuke carried on looking at the table, staring off into space.

Realising what a fool she must sound, Rinn also averted her eyes to the table. Sasuke wasn’t like he used to be, he clearly was no longer comfortable being open and honest about _any_ of his feelings, and seemed to avoid human contact as if it would give him a deadly disease. Rinn sighed to herself.

_What’s happened to you Sasuke?_

He was much more of an enigma to her now than he ever was as a child. On the one hand she knew he still cared about her in some way, otherwise he wouldn’t have gone through all the effort to maintain her house and have everything so perfectly ready for her return. Yet she was still surprised at the icy reception she appeared to be receiving from him, it was almost like he had made a conscious effort to close himself off to her, and that upset her immensely. She was frustrated at her own naivety – Sasuke had all but ignored her for the past couple of years, of course he wouldn’t be rushing into her arms like the happy ending of a movie, but she had hoped she could at least give him a big hug after all this time. He was her best friend after all, was that not the way they used to greet each other when they were younger?

Defeated, Rinn got up from the breakfast bar and decided to distract herself from the one-sided discussion she was having inside her head and began to see what the cupboards had been stocked up with. She felt slightly better about her worries when she discovered Sasuke had thought of _everything_ she could possibly need, including some of his own favourite picks of food, which brought her some comfort.

_At least he seems to think he will be visiting for dinner. That’s good._

“So.. shall I make us something to eat then??” Rinn tried to say enthusiastically, attempting to break the tension. She spun around to face Sasuke once more with her hands on her hips, looking eager to get something cooking.

“Hmm..?” Sasuke dopily answered, clearly lost in his own thoughts and not paying any attention.

“I _said_ shall I make us something to eat, you deaf old bat!” Rinn replied, poking him lightly in the shoulder.

Finally looking at her, Sasuke was quickly brought back to reality and blinked a few times whilst trying to remember what she had said, earning him a huff from Rinn.

“Right, you’ll get what you’re given then!” She said, narrowing her eyes at him and pointing the wooden spoon she was now wielding in his general direction as she walked to the other side of the kitchen backwards, not taking her eyes off of him as she went. Clearly she was trying to be intimidating in some way.

This earned a quiet chuckle from Sasuke, a sound which was welcomed by Rinn, given how mute he had been most of the day. She carried on gathering her cooking utensils onto the kitchen-top, then started to peel some vegetables. Sasuke’s eyes followed her as she cooked. For the first time in a long time, he felt a sense of homeliness and belonging he no longer thought possible. Watching his best friend go about the kitchen making them a meal (although an everyday occurrence to most people) brought him great comfort, and the emotions he had been suppressing since he first saw her at those gates suddenly crept up on him. Finally swallowing his pride, Sasuke got himself up from the breakfast bar and strode over to Rinn, pulling her into his strong embrace from behind. A surprised Rinn squeaked a little and her potato peeler fell onto the kitchen top with a clatter, although she was pleased that Sasuke was letting some of his old self out at last.

“I... I’m so pleased you’re back Rinn...” Sasuke mumbled into the crook of her neck, arms still tight around her waist as he stood behind her. His voice sounded slightly pained, tugging on Rinn’s heart, and she turned around to embrace him fully, wrapping one arm around his neck and the other around his waist, pulling him close.

“I’m so pleased _to_ be back,” She said softly, her breath tickling Sasuke’s skin.

Sasuke’s heart was beginning to race a little at his close proximity to Rinn and the feeling of her warm breath on his neck - he couldn’t bring himself to let go of her. Not after last time...

_The night she left the village..._

Sasuke held onto her tighter still as he remembered what it felt like to lose her all those years ago, and cursed at himself for how cold he was being around her so far. After a few minutes Rinn spoke again.

“Sasuke....”

“Mmm?”

“...why did you stop writing?”

_Shit._

And there it was again. Guilt. Sasuke’s stomach hit the floor as he searched his mind for an answer. Something, _anything_ he could possibly tell her to make it ok, a decent enough excuse to give her for how he had behaved. But he didn’t have one. So instead, he ended their embrace, before looking apologetically into her beautiful emerald eyes and fleeing straight out of her front door.

Rinn stood alone in her kitchen, rooted to the spot, completely dumbfounded. Sasuke’s behaviour was all over the place and she couldn’t understand it. Sighing shakily, she decided to let this one go and leave Sasuke to himself for the time being, continuing to prepare dinner.

_He’ll come back when he’s ready._


	10. Chapter 8

The day of Rinn’s departure, she awoke to find the little arms of her best friend clutching around her, snuggled up as close as humanly possible.

“Sasuke, are you awake?” Rinn sleepily enquired, the reality of the fact that this was her last day in the Hidden Leaf Village for a long time hitting her, and sickening her slightly.

“I’ve been awake for hours...,” A sniffly voice replied from behind her, his little head still tucked into her shoulder.

Rinn pulled his arms from her, turning round to face him, gesturing him to follow her lead and sit up on the bed. Finally getting a look at her friend, she noticed how terrible he looked; his eyes were red and puffy, with huge black bags under them – it didn’t look like he had slept at all.

“Did you not get any sleep last night?” Rinn asked of her friend, concern evident in her voice.

Sasuke paused for a long while, before carefully answering.

“It sounds stupid... but I thought if I didn’t go to sleep, then it would keep being yesterday and today would never come. And I didn’t want to waste some of our last hours together by sleeping either so....” he trailed off, eyes casting downwards as he became lost in his thoughts once more.

Rinn however was not in the mood for Sasuke’s melancholy attitude on her last day – she wanted to make the most of it and have as much fun as possible! Rinn wanted to go out with a bang, not spend all day moping about the house! She was itching to get out of bed and start a day of fun, and she was going to get her way even if she had to physically drag him around the entire village!

Rinn poked Sasuke in the nose sharply, making him jump and come back to reality.

“Owww Rinn what was that for...”

“Sasuke. We are not sitting cooped up in this house any longer!” She stated jumping off of the bed in a sudden explosion of energy from who knows where, roughly grabbing Sasuke’s wrist and pulling him across the bed so hard that he went flying onto the floor at her feet.

Her little friend glared up at her sulkily from the floor, as if to say ‘How dare you pull me around like your pet rag doll’ and Rinn found this positively hilarious.

She let out a most unattractive snort, and burst into a fit of laughter pointing at Sasuke’s crumpled figure on the floor as she said:

“Y-Y-You know *snigger* you have one of _the_ funniest grumpy faces Sasuke Uchiha!! *snigger* you’re such a little sulker *snigger*.....”

And with that Sasuke launched himself at her, mumbling something along the lines of “Uchihas don’t sulk” and thus crashing both of them to the floor this time in a giggling heap.

As they began to play fight their laughter became louder and finally Sasuke managed to stop being such a grump and allow his face to crack a smile. Spotting this immediately, Rinn quickly reached up and grabbed his cheek, pulling it around as if a grandmother would.

“See? There he is. My fabulous non-grumpy friend Sasuke. _Now_ we can go out and have fun!” She said, the mood in the house already lightening as the children finally began to realise that what was coming was inevitable, so rather than try to fight it and make themselves even more unhappy, they decided to make the most of the hours they had left before Rinn’s escorts arrived in the village.

“So, what shall we do today then?” Sasuke asked, sitting up with a toothy grin still plastered on his face.

“Well... I think we should make a scrummy sweet sugary breakfast first of all. Then shall we go to the woods? Then maybe we could get some nice food out on our way back?” Rinn suggested, also sitting up from the floor.

“Whatever you want Rinn, today is about you.” Sasuke stated. The young boy honestly didn’t mind one bit what antics they got up to in their final day together, as long as he got to spend as much time with her as possible. Sasuke and Rinn sat smiling wistfully at one another for a short while, before Rinn got to her feet once more and headed towards her wardrobe.

“Right Sasuke there’s no time to waste! Let’s get up and get ready for the best day ever!” She said, beaming.

“OK! I’ll quickly go home and shower and I’ll be right back so we can make breakfast OK??”

“Yup – see you in the kitchen!!”

And with that, little Sasuke’s feet pitter-pattered as he hurried downstairs, out of the front door, into his front door, and up the stairs to his room. To be honest, Sasuke rarely slept in his own house – he hated being alone at night, and he began to wonder how he would cope without his friend.

_No Sasuke, you can worry about that once she’s gone. Today must be special. Today must be good._

Shaking his head, trying to encourage himself to snap out of it, Sasuke began to gather his clothes together for the day and proceeded to the bathroom, taking a quick shower and throwing his clothes on, already urgently trying to get himself back to Rinn. As he went back to his room to pick up his shoes, however, Sasuke had an idea and grabbed a fistful of coloured thread from a box underneath his bed. Shoving it into his pocket, he ran back down the stairs, quickly arriving back in Rinn’s kitchen where she was already starting to whisk together some pancake batter. She had also taken out a variety of syrups, sweets and confectionary onto the kitchen top to put with the pancakes, true indeed to her earlier declaration of wanting “Scrummy sweet sugary breakfast” but all Sasuke could do was stick his tongue out in disgust – he despised anything sickly sweet.

“Sasuke Uchiha I _saw_ that!” Rinn exclaimed when she saw his facial expression, turning around and pointing her whisk at him accusingly.

He merely laughed at her in response, clearly not remotely threatened by her choice of weapon.

“Now I _know_ you don’t like nice food, so I’ve put some things out over there,” she gestured toward the corner of the kitchen top with said whisk, “for savoury pancakes, so that you can have some too.”

With all of this whisk-waving she was doing, Rinn was making an awful mess over the kitchen floor so Sasuke took it upon himself to confiscate the whisk off of the young girl.

“Thank you Rinn, I think I’ll take over the whisking now,” he said as he got hold of the whisk, “You sit down, I’ll make us breakfast today. I’ll be much tidier as well....” he teased, poking his tongue out at her.

Rinn’s eyes looked down to the floor in dismay at the splatters of batter all over the floor, and just as she was about to reach for the cloth to clean it up, Sasuke beat her to it once again.

“Sit!” He instructed, feeling very grown up and very much like the man of the house, “I’ll clean that up as well. Do you want a hot drink Rinn?” He asked, deciding that today he would do all he could to make his friend happy.

“Aw thanks Sasuke, I would _love_ a hot chocolate or something, but you don’t have to...”

“Shut up Rinn! It’s your last day today. Let me make it a good one for you. Relax, OK?” Sasuke jokingly scolded, smiling genuinely at his friend. Rinn couldn’t help but beam back. She had forgotten what a happy, thoughtful, and caring boy Sasuke could be. Since the death of his family, he had understandably been a bit worse for wear, but she always knew that deep down he was always there...

“My Snapdragon...” Rinn mused wistfully. Snapdragon had been a little nickname that she had given Sasuke when they were very young. The ‘dragon’ came from his determination to master the fireball jutsu (which Rinn always thought made him look a lot like a dragon) and ‘snap’ because he was such a grumpy little boy. Finding out there was a flower called Snapdragon amused Rinn no end, and it quickly became Sasuke’s new name – she used to call him it all the time, and he would call her...

“Starfish.” Sasuke stated simply, beaming at her once more. He had missed their silly nicknames for each other, it made him feel closer to her whilst also bringing him comfort. Rinn’s nickname was mainly attributed to her coppery-coloured hair, and her affinity with water and swimming (she had once rescued Sasuke when he was trying to show off and almost drowned in the lake). The use of these names did however cause a painful feeling in Sasuke’s heart, and his whisking began to slow down as his mind wandered to darker places once again.

_Snap out of it Sasuke! You’re behaving like an idiot!_

“Batter looks ready!” He suddenly announced, forcing a smile and locking away his melancholy thoughts once again.

Rinn leaped out of her chair in excitement, switching on the cooker and putting oil in the pan, clearly impatient for her breakfast. They continued laughing and joking, remembering happier times as they stuffed their bellies full of pancake-y goodness (both sweet _and_ savoury alike!)

\---------------------------------------------------------- X -------------------------------------------------------

After they had filled themselves up to breaking point, the two children clutched at their bellies ready to doze off, evidently suffering from a ‘food coma’.

“Right! Let’s head out to the forest shall we?” Rinn suggested, almost begrudgingly. Neither of them much felt like moving anywhere after all the food they had eaten, but time was not on their side and they needed to get going!

Sasuke merely nodded in response, holding his arms helplessly up to Rinn like a dead beetle, clearly requiring some assistance to get his now heavier self up from the chair he was sat in. Rolling her eyes, Rinn dragged him up out of the chair and, after putting on their shoes, they made it to the forest in no time. Old habits die hard, and as soon as they reached the small clearing in which they normally trained, Rinn quickly took up a defensive stance as was the norm when they sparred against one another. Sasuke chuckled.

“Rinn, what on _earth_ are you doing?” he said, amused.

“Well why did you think we came here? To _train_!”

“I’m not fighting you today. Come on we are supposed to be doing _nice_ things, not sparring!”

“Sparring _is_ nice Sasuke!” Rinn retorted defiantly. “Besides, you said earlier we could do whatever _I_ wanted today so you should just shut up and fight me like a man!”

_She’s right, I did say that, but..._

Sasuke shoved his hands in his pockets, as if he was about to start sulking once again; but as his fingers touched the thread he had placed in their earlier he remembers his ingenious idea.

“Hey Rinn, I’ve got a better idea for something we can do!”

Rinn’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, but he had piqued her interest.

“Well, what is it then?”

Sasuke walked towards her and dangled the coloured thread in front of her face. A bemused look overcame Rinn’s face, genuinely unsure what he was getting at here, when he sighed and spelt it out to her:

“Friendship bracelets...?” He said, exasperation evident in his tone.

Suddenly the penny dropped and Rinn started to crack a smile.

“You wanna make some more bracelets for each other before I go?” Rinn asked.

Sasuke nodded in response.

“Aw Sasuke that’s so cute! Yeah let’s do that for sure!” She said excitedly, already snatching the bundle of thread from Sasuke’s unsuspecting hand and selecting the colours that she wanted to use to make his bracelet.

And so, they both sat down back to back (as was the tradition from the last time they made them – they didn’t want the other person peeking) and began to weave their thin, but colourful, bracelets for one another. Rinn, already being very skilled in the ‘girly’ art of bracelet making, was the first to finish.

“All done! You nearly finished Sasuke??”

“Just give me a few more minutes!” He called from behind her, their backs still together as they faced opposite ways. Sasuke was concentrating very hard on making this bracelet for Rinn, as he wanted it to be perfect and be a good reminder of him.

A few more minutes ended up turning into another half an hour, in addition to the almost hour or so Rinn had taken to finish Sasuke’s to begin with.

“Aw man Sasuke you’re _such_ a slow poke.....” Rinn yawned, trying not to fall asleep against his back as she carried on waiting for him to finish weaving the bracelet.

“I’m almost done I swear!” He retorted, now sticking his tongue out as if that helped him concentrate even harder. Another five or ten minutes later, Sasuke tied the final knot and proudly admired his handiwork.

_Phew. Not a thread wrong._

“Rinnnnn I’ve finished yours now too!” he sang, wiggling his shoulders a bit to get her attention as she seems to be almost passing out behind him.

“Oh sorry you took so long I’ve already been to do my training and come back!” Rinn teased, standing and turning around to face her friend so that they could exchange their creations, which they were both hiding behind their backs.

“You first!!” She prompted, and just as Sasuke was about to object she reminded him, “My day, my rules!”

Sasuke rolled his eyes jokingly, bringing her bracelet from behind his back and presenting it to her. Rinn had to admit, his technique was positively faultless, and the weave was perfectly neat and tidy. But what she liked most about it, was the way it reminded her of him. This was also helped by the fact that the threads he chose were:

“The Uchiha colours,” she stated, smiling to herself. Sasuke nodded proudly to her.

“Do you like it?”

“Of course I do Sasuke, now when I wear it I’ll always think of you!” She said, quickly gesturing to him to tie the item around her delicate wrist, just above the other bracelet already sitting there (also made for her by Sasuke). He smiled as he admired his creation further, now that it was attached around Rinn’s wrist. Deep down, he knew that he chose those colours not only to remind her of him, but also to serve as a warning to anyone that might think about messing with her that she was under the protection of the Uchiha.

“Soooo in comparison to the one you’ve made, mine looks a little bit rubbish...” Rinn began, now feeling a little reluctant to hand over the less-than-perfect product of her labour.

“Fair’s Fair,” Sasuke replied, excited to see what his friend had made for him in return.

Sighing, Rinn handed over the bracelet and Sasuke hurriedly picked it up to inspect it. He looked at it for a long while, which cause Rinn to worry that he did not like it.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have rushed....”

“I love it.” He said simply, looking up at her.

“Huh?”

“I don’t know what you were worried about.”

“But it’s all messy and...”

“And orange, and unique, and fun and... beautiful – just like you,” he said, smiling at her sweetly with a small blush on his face.

Rinn blushed furiously in response. She too had tried to pick colours that would remind Sasuke of her while she was away, and she was glad he had noticed that, but she hadn’t expected to be called beautiful by her young friend, and it caught her quite off guard.

Sasuke broke the awkwardness by holding his arm out to Rinn, asking her to fasten his new bracelet for him. Like Sasuke, she tied on her creation just above the other bracelet that he wore, also from her. They admired each other’s work quietly, before slowly making their way back to civilisation to try and find another bite to eat, for it was now almost evening.

\--------------------------------------------------------- X --------------------------------------------------------------

Sitting in a quaint family restaurant that they often frequented, Rinn and Sasuke browsed the menu for something tasty to fill their hungry bellies. The owner of the restaurant, a kind and rather rotund middle-aged lady, came over to see how two of her favourite customers were getting on. They had not been in for a meal for a little while, and she couldn’t help but attribute this to the Uchiha massacre – something which most of the village was now acutely aware of. She approached their table, neither of the children noticing as their faces were buried deeply into their menus.

“And how are my two favourite littlest customers this evening?” The lady, Hiro, enquired, causing them both to jump a little in surprise. Rinn responded with a smile while Sasuke glared a little bit, clearly not impressed by being called ‘littlest’.

“We are fine thank you! Just trying to decide what we want to eat – it’s so hard to pick something,” Rinn replied, frowning as her eyes darted around the menu.

Hiro chuckled.

“I’ve certainly missed seeing you both here, you have such excitable spirits!” she said kindly.

“Rinn’s leaving tonight. It’s her last dinner.” Sasuke remarked, out of nowhere, eyes still attached to his menu. Rinn’s eyes flicked over to him, a little taken aback by his comment, and then looked back to Hiro who was looking at her slightly saddened, but inquisitively.

“The Hokage is sending me away for some special training....” Rinn explained, “I could be gone for several years...” She trailed off, her eyes threatening to water.

Hiro smiled sympathetically at her, genuinely disappointed to hear of her departure, yet the kind woman had an idea for how to brighten the mood.

“Well now, we had best give you the best send off we can, hadn’t we? You children order whatever you like from the menu – it’s on the house!”

Sasuke’s ears pricked up and he finally tore his eyes away from the menu.

“Anything..?” He asked.

Hiro chortled at his sudden interest.

“Yes Sasuke, that’s what I said wasn’t it?”

The two youngsters grinned from ear to ear, as Hiro walked away from their table smiling to herself, leaving them to converse excitedly about all the delightful things they were going to have to eat. She couldn’t help but feel disheartened at Rinn’s news, however. The young redhead always brought such light to her restaurant, and she worried about what would happen to her little friend Sasuke once she had gone. Ever since the two of them had started coming to her restaurant, Hiro would always notice how much the little boy adored his friend and couldn’t help but wonder how he would fare after her departure, now that he had no family to comfort him. She hoped her kind gesture of their free meals tonight would help bring them a moment of happiness before they went their separate ways.

A couple of hours later, Sasuke and Rinn were lazily slouching in their chairs, hands clutching at their once more overfilled bellies. They had both thoroughly enjoyed their food, there was no denying it, yet an undertone of dread had began to take hold of the children once they started eating. Their distracted silences grew longer and longer as the night drew on, unable to shake the knowledge of what was coming. They paid their thanks to Hiro, Rinn giving her a quick hug as the kind lady wished her well on her travels. Sasuke could only watch this exchange with a sullen look on his face, wishing against all hope that this was all a bad dream.

_Thirty minutes. They’re coming to take her from me in thirty minutes..._

They walked back to the house quietly to pick up Rinn’s readily packed possessions, neither really knowing what to say to one another. After putting on her huge rucksack (and Sasuke very kindly offering to carry everything else for her), the reality of her leaving suddenly hit Sasuke. Hard.

It took all the self-control he could muster not to let his emotions consume him, and so instead he tenderly linked his arm through Rinn’s as they walked towards the gate of the Leaf Village. Rinn tried to be strong as well, for she too was beginning to realise the gravity of the effect of her leaving would have on Sasuke, mistaking his current placid face as evidence that he had come to terms with everything. Little did she know the internal battle he was facing underneath this facade.

As they approached the gate, they noticed several shadowy figures standing there awaiting their arrival. Upon closer inspection they were revealed to be the Hokage, Kakashi, Kurenai and three ninja they were not familiar with, who they could only assume were those sent to escort Rinn to the mountains. Sasuke’s lip began to tremble as they finally made it to the gate, so he bit down on it firmly to keep his emotions in check. He made sure to look at the floor so he could try and shut out everything that was happening. The conversations that the adults were having with Rinn were all but background noise to him, as a lump threatened to rise in his throat and his heartbeat got louder and faster, starting to become the only thing he could hear until he felt the grip of his best friend’s arm around his disappear.

“NO!!” He suddenly cried out, startling everyone, latching himself back onto her arm, his pent up emotions finally coming out, “NO I _won’t_ let you take her!!”

The adults all looked sympathetically at him, as Rinn turned around to fully face her friend. Her face was also dusted with a glisten of water, showing that she too had been crying.

“Sasuke, I have to go now. I’m so _so_ sorry!” She said, Sasuke still clinging onto her arm for dear life.

He couldn’t take it anymore – his little legs trembled and collapsed from under him, dragging Rinn down to her knees with him. She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly, as both of his arms now gripped onto her as he wept.

“Please don’t leave me...” He whispered almost inaudibly into her ear as she held him, “You’re all I have.”

Rinn’s heart broke as the guilt washed over her once more, but what could she do?

“I’ll be back before you know it,” she said, trying to convince herself as much as she was Sasuke, “Just don’t forget me OK?”

“Rinn, I could never...”

“Achem...” The Hokage interrupted, “Firinne...”

He needed to hurry her departure along, it was a gruelling journey to the mountains and the longer they delayed, the worse it would be for the young girl.

Rinn exhaled deeply, half in annoyance, half to catch hold of her breath, and dragged both herself and Sasuke to their feet. Letting go of him, she placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him dead in the eye and said:

“Promise me you’ll write?”

“Of course I will Rinn! I promise,” Sasuke replied, still sniffling.

His teary eyes looked back at his friend, and he tried to memorise as much of her as he could, taking everything about her in and locking it away somewhere safe in his head. He didn’t know how long it would be until he would next look upon her. They embraced one final time, before Rinn turned around to make her exit. Sasuke, in one last act of desperation, grabbed onto her hand, but they both knew it was futile now, as he looked at her pleadingly before Rinn sadly let go of his palm and disappeared into the night.

Sasuke let out a cry of anguish as he leaned himself against a nearby wall, beside himself with grief, his small arms wrapping around himself as he struggled to breathe. Kurenai and Kakashi exchanged worried glances, and the latter bent down and picked up the child to take him home, expecting a great deal of protest from Sasuke. However there was none. The young boy hadn’t the strength to do anything but weep at that moment, allowing himself to be carried all the way home and placed in his bed by the Jonin, before they too left him.

Sasuke, now in the house by himself, curled up into a ball under his warm quilt. This was the first time since he and Rinn had moved into this accommodation that he had actually slept in his own house, in his own bed, and it felt awful. Sasuke carefully fumbled with the bracelets on his wrists, seemingly the only thing that he had left of her now. A feeling of dread swept over him as he knew what was waiting for him as soon as he closed his eyes – the nightmares would surely be back for him in full force now that he didn’t have his friend there to comfort him.

And he had never felt so alone.


	11. Chapter 9

_Sasuke you are a COMPLETE idiot! What the HELL was that?!_

Sasuke slammed his front door behind him, kicking one of his chairs across the floor in anger at his stupid behaviour. Sitting down onto his sofa with his elbows on his knees and head in his hands, he let out a growl of frustration.

_She’s finally come back to the village, and you run away like a scared little kitten?! She has every right to ask about why you didn’t write, and it won’t make it ANY better to keep avoiding the subject!_

Sasuke felt like a coward, but what else was he supposed to do? The problem was, he just didn’t know how to deal with things like this. He wanted to make everything right, to get things back to where they were before she left, but he was too frightened to face it head on – and that’s why he ran. As soon as he had made it out of her door he immediately regretted it. Yet, once again, his famous Uchiha pride would not allow him to turn around and apologise, even though he wanted nothing more than to spend every minute he could with her. Sasuke cursed at himself, getting all worked up over a _girl_. Despite this, he couldn’t help but smile to himself when he thought of how her eyes lit up when she came through that gate earlier in the day. He also couldn’t deny the fire that she had ignited within him, once their eyes finally met after all those years.

In truth, he was feeling such inner conflict that it was driving him crazy. The person he had become was a ‘lone wolf’, only concerned for himself and his goal of avenging the slaughter of his family. His driving force was strength and survival, and he could _not_ let anyone get in the way of that. Nevertheless, the caring and emotional side of him that he thought had left with Rinn was still buried within him, and it was beginning to re-appear now that he was around her once again. This presented Sasuke with a huge problem: Would Rinn end up becoming a hindrance to his goal? Would he become distracted?

Of course he would. He was already distracted. She was still perfect to him, and now that they were older his feelings towards her were taking a direction that he did not fully understand yet. This frightened him. Either way, he wasn’t going to achieve anything sitting there sulking like a petulant child. So instead, he paced. Up and down the lounge and kitchen he went, running his hands through his hair. Occasionally, he would stop, and decide to walk towards the door but then bottled it once he got to the handle, still too afraid to face his friend. Getting more and more frustrated with himself, his pacing became faster and he began to tap his fingers against the side of his legs as if that helped his flurry of thoughts somehow...

*KNOCK KNOCK*

Sasuke halted instantly as the knock on his front door resounded through the house, eyes growing wide.

_Could that be... Rinn?_

He ran to the door, hopefulness growing within him as he nearly yanked the door off its hinges in his hurry to see who was on the other side of the door.

Sasuke’s face fell when he saw no-one.

He looked around outside just in case, nearly tripping over something which had been left on his doorstep. Looking down to see what the offending item was, Sasuke saw a plate with a cover over the top. Curious, he picked it up and took it inside. Placing it on the table, he uncovered the food and was met by the most glorious smell he had experienced for a long time. He half-smiled to himself, realising that it was some of the dinner that Rinn had started cooking before his untimely exit. This act of kindness pulled heavily on his heart, making him feel even worse about his earlier actions. No matter how much of an idiot he was, Rinn always had his best interests at heart and forgave him for things he probably wouldn’t.

_Unless it was Rinn I suppose. I’d probably forgive her for anything._

Sasuke grimly chuckled at his own weakness, reminding himself, “Pull yourself together Sasuke!” as he ate his tasty treat. He couldn’t help but wish the young lady who had cooked it had hung around, rather than leaving it on the doorstep.

_Oh well... another night eating alone won’t hurt._

_\--------------------------------- X-----------------------------_

Rinn’s cutlery clunked and scraped on her plate noisily as she ate her dinner in silence. She didn’t know whether to feel disappointed or not. In all honestly, she had expected to be eating by herself anyway. That all changed the moment she saw Sasuke waiting for her at the gate. She had not expected him to be there at all, and it certainly knocked her for six. It also gave her foolish hopes, and she scolded herself for jumping to conclusions that everything would pick up from where they left off. Sasuke obviously had lots going on, but she just could not work him out – he was like two different people at once. There was the Sasuke that had broken contact with her, who was cold, serious and concerned only with his training, determined not to show any emotion as to him it indicated weakness. He had also become a very proud individual, and very closed off. At the other end of the spectrum, hidden somewhere, was the Sasuke she had known and cherished since she left the village: the kind, flappy, smiley young boy who would do anything to help anyone, and who would tell her his innermost thoughts, feelings and dreams. Rinn sighed, getting up and washing her dishes in the sink before dragging her tired body up to the bathroom.

Looking around the bathroom, Rinn was once again pleasantly surprised to find it was very well-stocked. Sasuke really had thought of everything. There were fresh towels and flannels, as well as delicious-smelling shampoos, conditioners, and shower gels. She giggled to herself as she pictured Sasuke in the shop picking up all of these girly things, he must have looked very grumpy, she imagined. As the water hit her skin, Rinn hummed in contentment, the warm water easing her weary muscles as well as distracting her busy mind.

When Rinn eventually (reluctantly) stepped out of the shower, she felt cleaner than she had for a long time. Whilst she was away, she often had to wash herself in various rivers and cold lakes, so having a hot shower was a luxury she had almost forgotten completely. She suddenly thought of her teammates, for the first time since she had left them at the gate. She wondered if they too were enjoying the comfort of a proper bathroom now that they were back in the village. Wandering to her bedroom in her towel, she put on some clothes and made a mental note to go shopping tomorrow to buy some more now that she had both somewhere to buy them from, and somewhere to store them. She had survived on no more than two or three outfits in the time she was training in the mountains, so getting some new things would be a nice, but necessary treat for her.

_Maybe Sasuke would come with me?_

Rinn snorted at her own naivety as she unpacked her bags. Sometimes she could slap herself for how overly optimistic she was. However, as if to contradict her, she was suddenly interrupted by a gentle _*TAP TAP*_ on her door.

“Speak of devil, and he shall appear...” She said to herself sarcastically as she walked downstairs to answer the door, chastising herself on the way for even assuming that it would be Sasuke. She had a great many friends and acquaintances in the village – it could be anyone really...

Rinn slowly opened the door with a quiet creak, finding nobody there. Looking down to the floor, she saw that her plate and cover had been returned, but sadly without its grateful recipient. She bent down and picked it up, closing the door behind her and taking it through to the kitchen. Upon lifting off the cover, she gasped lightly when she discovered some hand-picked wildflowers on the clean plate that lay beneath. Rinn blushed, smiling from ear to ear as she gently picked up her makeshift bouquet and popped them into a jar of water (she did sadly did not have a vase to put them in!). Looking at them wistfully, she wondered where Sasuke had gotten them from, and hoped that maybe she could ask him to show her in the future.

_That’s if he ever comes out of hiding!_

Rinn was suddenly overcome with the hilarity of her current situation, and partly because of her delirium of tiredness burst into a fit of laughter.

_This is so stupid... We live right next door to each other, have been best friends since we were kids, and now we have been reduced to communicating with each other by leaving things outside one another’s doors!!_

Raising her hand to her forehead, she held it there as she let out a loud sigh and shook her head in disbelief.

_Oh well, they say these things take time._

“Speaking of which...” Rinn mumbled to herself as her eyes gazed up at the clock mounted on the wall. It was beginning to get late, so Rinn took one last look at her pretty flowers before locking the door and heading up to bed. She fell asleep almost instantly, the comfort of a proper bed easily ensnaring her.

_\----------------------- X -----------------------_

Sasuke, unable to put his mind at bay, was continuing to sit on his sofa and over-think everything in painstakingly minute detail.

_Maybe I shouldn’t have given her those flowers... she might find it weird. But she did make me dinner and I don’t want to seem ungrateful._

_I should have just gone over there in person._

_What if she thinks I’m avoiding her?_

_What if she’s avoiding me?_

His mind was going round and round in circles, he didn’t even realise how dark it had gotten around him – he was sitting there in the pitch black without so much as a light on. Sasuke leaned across and flicked on the light switch, glancing at the clock whilst doing so. Sighing, he realised he should probably make some effort to sleep. Pulling himself up from the sofa, he lazily walked to the kitchen and pulled out his secret bottle of whisky from under the sink and fixed himself a small night-cap. It was the only thing that helped him sleep these days.

Drinking it down in one fell swoop, the liquid burned the back of his throat and he grimaced, wiping his mouth with his forearm before placing the bottle back in the cupboard and making his way upstairs to bed. Whilst drifting off, he thought about Rinn, and whether she too was getting into bed for the night. He hoped she was all right.

_I’ll have to make more of an effort tomorrow._

_\------------------ X ------------------_

Rinn was rudely awoken in the night by the sound of a yell, followed by a torrent of crashing and banging. She sat bolt upright, her breathing and heartbeat accelerating by the minute as she sat, quietly listening.

_*CRASH!*_

She jumped in surprise, gasping. Well the sound didn’t seem to be coming from inside her house, for which she was relieved, however it sounded extremely close by, which meant...

_Sasuke!!_

Rinn leapt from her bed, quickly pulling on a hooded jacket over her pyjamas, hurrying downstairs barefoot, jumping the last few steps. Turning left straight from her front door, she was faced with Sasuke’s now ominous-looking navy blue door. Making an effort to be silent on her feet, she inspected the door for any damage.

_Well, it doesn’t look like anybody has forced an entry at least._

She lightly pushed the door, finding it to be unlocked, which made her recoil in surprise. Rinn immediately activated her deep red chakra from her palms, readying herself for any possible attack she might need to make. Without a sound, she entered the almost entirely pitch black house.

_*CLACK!*_

Rinn jumped a little at the sudden noise, which sounded suspiciously like an empty glass being slammed down onto a surface. Looking to the source of the noise, she noticed a figure stood in front of the kitchen window – she was thankful at this moment that there was some moonlight shining through otherwise she might not have seen the character stood in the darkness. The only question was, were they an intruder, or was it only Sasuke?

She inched ever closer, more silently still, chakra still activated for a fight. The next sound she heard sounded like liquid being poured, followed by another _*CLACK!*_. This repeated once or twice more, until instead of a _*CLACK!*_ there was an almighty...

_*SMASH!*_

“SHIT!!” Sasuke hissed.

“Sasuke?!” Rinn called out, relief washing over her, now knowing that she would not have to fight anyone after all. She started to fumble around for a light switch.

“ _Rinn_?! Is that you?” Sasuke replied, surprise evident in his tone.

“Yeah, give me a sec I’m just trying to find the light...”

“What the hell are you doing here?!”

_*FLICK*_

“There...” Rinn said with quiet satisfaction, as the kitchen was finally bathed in light. They both flinched a little as their eyes adjusted to the sudden brightness, and Rinn was finally able to take in her surroundings.

First of all she looked over to Sasuke; his eyes were puffy and bloodshot, and had grey bags forming beneath them. Some of his hair was stuck to his face with what looked like sweat, in fact his whole body glistened with the stuff. As Rinn’s eyes scanned further down she began to blush as she noticed Sasuke’s naked muscular chest and arms – all the Uchiha was wearing at the moment was a pair of sweatpants, and she bit her lip as she tried to shake away the butterflies that were forming in her stomach. She surveyed him further still, and observed that he was clutching his left hand close to his body, red liquid now beginning to leak from it at quite an alarming rate.

“Sasuke your hand!!” Rinn exclaimed, rushing over to him and taking his hand in hers. She delicately turned it over and inspected it carefully, but Sasuke, rather than looking to see the damage to his hand, couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Rinn on the other hand was staring intently at his hand, confusion evident on her face until she managed to put two and two together.

“There’s glass in your hand...”

“I know.”

“So that’s what the smash was.”

“...”

“Sasuke, I’m not going to even ask you why there’s an empty bottle of whisky on the side right now - we can talk about that later- but right now I need to remove this glass from your hand before I can heal the wounds. You ought to be more careful with empty glasses...”

She finally looked up at him, his dark eyes looking longingly into her own, so much so that it made her feel slightly uncomfortable. With his uninjured hand, Sasuke gently ran his palm over Rinn’s arm, shoulder to fingertip, before lightly placing it over her own hands that were still wrapped around his injured one. He looked into her eyes deeper still if that were possible, searching for who knows what (he didn’t even know himself really). This flustered his friend, who quickly let go of his hand and grabbed the nearest kitchen towel she could find, wrapping it around the affected area.

“I need you to keep this towel around your hand OK? Apply pressure to it, and elevate it as high as you can.” Rinn instructed, gently raising his arm into the air. Sasuke responded by nodding, and then took over holding the towel around his injured hand with his good side, supporting his arm in the air at the same time.

“Do you have some tweezers? I’ll need them to remove the glass.” Rinn enquired.

Once again, Sasuke nodded in response, continuing to watch her every move. Rinn shuffled from foot to foot, waiting for him to indicate to her where the said item could be found.

“...where might I find them?” She asked, fiddling with her fingers a little.

“Upstairs, in the bathroom... sorry....” Sasuke mumbled, realising he had taken a long time to respond to her.

“Right, OK, now stay _right_ there! I’ll just go and grab them,” Rinn said, before quickly running upstairs in search of the bathroom. All of the doors were closed which didn’t help, so she decided to go for the middle one.

She opened it with a gentle creak, and felt around for the light switch, turning it on with a _*CLICK*_. She immediately realised that this must be Sasuke’s room, and was about to turn straight around and walk back out until something caught her eye.

The two walls next to Sasuke’s bed, which was placed snugly in the corner, were covered with all of the letters and drawings that Rinn had sent Sasuke over the years, even after he stopped replying to her. Stepping closer to get a better look, she noticed that every last one was there, even from when they were much younger, and each one had been carefully pinned up onto the wall perfectly straight, creating a makeshift wallpaper of different landscapes.

This sight very nearly brought a tear to Rinn’s eye - all this time she thought he had forgotten her, yet she couldn’t have been more wrong.

_Perhaps there was another reason he stopped writing..._

She smiled to herself as she exited the room, switching off the light and quietly closing the door, her mind back to the ‘task at hand’ (she sniggered at her own clever pun!) as she went back to her mission of locating a pair of tweezers.

Luckily the next door she tried was in fact the bathroom, which she was impressed to find was immaculate. Sasuke was a lot cleaner _and_ tidier than her teammates were, that’s for sure. After checking a couple of cupboards, Rinn found what she was looking for and ran downstairs back to Sasuke with the tweezers.

Thankfully, he was exactly as she left him, although he was now staring into space rather than boring into her soul with those beautiful eyes of his.

“Found them!” Rinn said, breaking the silence and making Sasuke jump a little. He turned around to face her, looking at her expectantly for the next instruction – almost like he was her obedient pet.

“Right, let’s sit you down and have a good look at you shall we?” she continued, gesturing to the dining table, mentally kicking herself for how bad that could sound if it was taken out of context. Sasuke didn’t notice of course, and merely sat down like he was told, still shirtless and still holding his hand in the air, although the blood was starting to trickle down his arm at this point.

“Give me your hand...” Rinn began, which Sasuke obliged a little too keenly - so much so that he ended up slamming his hand down onto the table accidently, earning a fair few curse words from his throat. This was instantly eased however, as Rinn delicately placed her smaller hands around his and turned his hand over to inspect the damage more closely. Sasuke, who was watching her intently, could have sworn he saw her eyes change colour for a split second, but attributed it to a hallucination due to his tiredness and apparent blood loss.

“Right, I can see four pieces of glass in your hand that I’ll need to pull out before I can heal you. This is probably going to hurt...”

Sasuke looked at her and nodded once again.

_He sure is quieter than usual... If that’s even possible!!_

Rinn let out a sigh, she really didn’t like the idea of hurting her friend but it was the only way she could fix him. She laid his hand down, palm up, onto the towel and, as gently as she could, placed the tweezers into his skin. Sasukes muscular arms tensed and twitched at this sudden intrusion, and he cursed some more as she tried to get a grip on one of the pieces of glass with the tweezers.

It was Rinn’s turn to curse as she struggled to maintain a grip on the slippery surface of the glass, but at last she had a secure enough hold on one piece to begin pulling it to the surface. Feeling the discomfort of it moving underneath his skin sent sharp pains up Sasuke’s arm, and, almost instinctively, he reached out and grabbed Rinn’s free hand tightly as he tried to keep as still as he could. This caused her to look up at him in surprise (and Sasuke could swear her eyes were still an unusual colour...), although she did not try to shake off his grip, and merely carried on with her work one-handed, gently rubbing the top of Sasuke’s good hand to comfort him.

After a few more minutes (and a few more curse words) Rinn had removed the last piece of glass from Sasuke’s wounds, which in all honesty was a complete relief to both parties.

“So... that’s the nasty bit done!” Rinn proclaimed, smiling at Sasuke who was more entranced with his good hand holding hers, lost in thought. He almost looked a little disappointed when she took her hand away, activating her healing chakra. She enclosed his hand in both of hers, and soon enough the pain began to subside as she got to work. Surprisingly, it was Sasuke who broke the silence this time.

“You always had an aptitude for medical ninjustu... Now you could easily have a place in the medical corps,” he said to himself, smiling slightly as he watched her hands glow with the strange green energy. 

“Well I was gone for so long, it would be disappointing if I hadn’t improved my justu don’t you think?” Rinn chuckled, trying to make light of the situation.

“Yes you were...”

“Hmmm?”

“You were gone for a long time...” Sasuke said, eyes looking directly into hers once more.

“I know...”

“...”

“I’m sorry... You know I didn’t want to-“

“It’s OK Rinn.”

“...what?” Rinn nearly choked on her words in surprise. She hadn’t expected that. Sasuke averted his gaze from hers and cast them down to the table, taking a deep breath in and exhaling slowly.

“I know it wasn’t your choice to leave, and I don’t blame you for it... And I’m sorry. For everything.”

“But then why did you stop writing...? Why did you shut me out?”

Sasuke chuckled at this as if it was the most obvious thing he had ever been asked.

“Rinn, I shut everyone out – don’t take it personally.”

“But we were _best friends_!”

“We still are, aren’t we...?” Sasuke leaned forward a little at this, studying her facial expression intently.

“Of course, but that still doesn’t explain anything!!”

Sasuke sighed, realising he probably _did_ owe her an explanation, and he also had the feeling that she wouldn’t let him get away with _not_ giving her one.

“When you left... I didn’t know what to do with myself. I was completely alone for the first time ever, and it was only your letters that kept me going. As time went on, I was able to keep myself busy through training, and I set myself a goal – something that I’m working on even now. The problem was, I was so dependent on the contact we still had, that it almost became an obsession. My mind was always distracted, wondering when the next letter was going to come-“

“And that’s why you stopped writing. I was getting in the way of your precious training?” Rinn interrupted, slight sadness evident in her voice.

“I didn’t say I was proud of it!! The longer I left it, the harder it became for me to start writing again. I was embarrassed and ashamed of myself, and I was worried how you would react if I just randomly started writing again after so long. Every year on your birthday I would write out a card for you, but I could never muster up the courage to send it.”

“Did it work?”

“What do you mean?”

“Did your training improve once you broke off contact with me?” Rinn said, bitterness starting to seep into her tone.

“Of course it didn’t. It made it worse if anything.”

Rinn snorted sarcastically, as if to say “Serves you right.”

“I promise you Rinn, now that you’re back, I won’t make the same mistake again. I’m going to make up for everything OK?” Sasuke said, a hint of desperation in his voice. He bent his head down a little, trying to catch her eyes which were focussing a little too hard on his hand at this moment. Eventually he caught them, and Rinn’s slight glare couldn’t help but soften as she looked at him. Sure, he looked like absolute shit at the moment, but there was a sincerity to his eyes that she hadn’t seen for a while, and she knew she was already struggling to stay mad at him.

“Well, that’s you all fixed,” Rinn said awkwardly, beginning to let go of Sasuke’s hand.

Both of Sasuke’s hands flew out before she could blink, grabbing onto both of hers and squeezing them affectionately, the same desperate look evident in his eyes.

“I promise.” He repeated firmly, after which he gradually let go of her and rested back a little in his chair, inspecting his previously injured body part.

“You know, you really are talented Rinn. It’s as good as new... Thank you...” He smiled a genuine smile, which she returned, before noticing there was still blood all over Sasuke. As he was about to stand up and begin clearing away the shattered glass from the floor, a hand on his chest stopped him and pushed him roughly back into the chair. Sasuke’s heart started racing.

Taking another towel from the kitchen, and soaking it with hot water, Rinn began cleaning the blood from Sasuke’s arm, which was now beginning to dry and become even more of a pain to remove. Sasuke allowed himself to close his eyes and relax as she did this, but they popped open in surprise as he suddenly felt her dabbing the warm towel against his face too. He had forgotten what a state he must look, and suddenly felt very self-conscious and embarrassed, looking to the floor in an instant. This didn’t faze Rinn however, who merely continued soothingly mopping his brow until he eventually let out a hum of contentment, placing his hand over hers once more, causing her to halt with the towel, and therefore her hand, pressed against the side of his face. Both blushing momentarily, they quickly split apart from one another, and Sasuke got up from his chair and started (carefully) sweeping up the glass from the floor. As Rinn leant against the kitchen top, her eyes subconsciously flicked back to the empty bottle on the side.

She waited for Sasuke to finish collecting the glass, and watched as he threw it in the bin before she managed to muster the courage to ask him:

“So, now that we’ve sorted out your hand... Would you tell me why I came in to find you recklessly downing cheap whisky?” Rinn pressed, folding her arms, trying to look more confident than she felt.

Sasuke turned to face the sink, placing his hands on the kitchen top either side of it, letting out an irritated sigh. He _really_ didn’t want to talk to her about this. What would she think of him? They’d just about managed to get back on friendly terms and he didn’t want to ruin it...

“Look I know what you’re thinking. You’re worrying about what I might say. But honestly Sasuke I just want to help you, that’s what friends are for. I promise I’ll try not to judge you.” Rinn reasoned, hoping to sound encouraging.

Sasuke exhaled again, this time sounding more defeated than irritated. He ran a hand through his hair as he gulped deeply.

_I suppose I’ll have to tell her sooner or later…_

“It helps me sleep.”

“...right...”

“You know when we were kids, after what happened to my family, I started getting nightmares?”

“Yeah I remember... they were awful. But I thought we managed to fix that before I left?”

Sasuke shook his head grimly, still staring out of the kitchen window, unable to make eye contact with her. Rinn could see this was difficult for him, and gently rubbed his bare back with her hand to urge him to continue.

“Rinn... when you left they came back. I think the only thing that was keeping them at bay was being around you. I had to find another substitute and this was what I came up with.”

  
“But Sasuke, you’re much too young to-“

“Don’t you think I know that?!” Sasuke interrupted, a little more harshly than he intended. Rinn bit her lip and fiddled with her fingers nervously, before speaking gently once again.

“I also heard banging and slamming noises earlier? That’s why I came over, I thought maybe somebody had broken in.”

“I’m not the best at controlling my emotions, especially my anger.” He replied bluntly, before at last turning to face her, “But thank you for everything you’ve done tonight. I was a mess earlier and I’m sure I would be a lot worse off without you here...”

“You’re _still_ a mess!” Rinn teased, poking him in the side and giggling.

Sasuke laughed in return.

“You know, you’re not wrong,” He said, smirking. “I should probably bid you goodnight and take a shower actually...” he continued, nervously scratching the back of his head and feeling very insecure of his appearance again.

“Are you going to be OK?” Rinn began, studying his face for confirmation.

“Yeah, I’ll be fine. You should go back to bed and get some sleep.” Sasuke replied, trying to force a believable smile (…of course he didn’t want her to leave!).

“And what about you?”

“Well... I don’t have any whisky left that’s for sure!” Sasuke said, trying to make her laugh but then realising how lame it sounded.

“Stay with me.” Rinn stated.

Sasuke’s smile dropped, instantly trying to work out if he had heard her correctly.

“W-what?”

“Stay with me.” She repeated, with more assertiveness this time. “In fact, I think it would be better for your health, and your liver, if you stay with me every night. Only if it keeps the nightmares at bay though, all right?”

“Are... Are you sure?” Sasuke asked in disbelief, his heart picking up its pace once more.

“Sasuke are you coming or not? I’m starting to get tired now, and you still need to shower before I’m letting you anywhere near my room, you got that?” Rinn said, smiling cheekily at him.

“Go and get some things!!” She said, giggling, as she started shoving him towards the staircase in an attempt to hurry him up.

No more than a couple of minutes later, Sasuke was back downstairs with his rucksack and they both walked through the door when Rinn remembered:

“Another thing Sasuke, you need to start locking your door, you never know who may be about!” She said, whacking him in the back of the head like a naughty child.

“OK, OK, but what if _you_ need to get in?” he asked, rubbing his head.

“We can just exchange spare keys tomorrow, right?” She suggested, watching him as he did as he was told and locked his door. He nodded as Rinn took out her keys and let them both into her home, showing Sasuke to the bathroom (although he already knew where it was, he was too polite to say so).

When Sasuke finally emerged from the bathroom, and made his way to Rinn’s room, she was already fast asleep. She was clearly very tired, and Sasuke felt guilty for keeping her up so late after she had been on such a long journey. He sat down next to her on the side of the bed, enjoying watching her for a while. She looked so peaceful, and it was beginning to rub off on him as he managed to let out a large yawn.

Sasuke stood up and made his way to the other side of her king-size bed. Taking off the top half of his clean pyjamas (as per usual) he gently got into the bed beside her, taking care not to wake her. Initially, he faced away from her so that their backs were touching, but he didn’t like it as he felt very closed off from her. So, being bold for a change, Sasuke nervously turned over, so that he was facing Rinn’s back. His heart started beating faster as he delicately draped his top arm around her waist, placing it down ever so gently bit by bit, expecting her to pull away from him in disgust at any moment. However, he couldn’t be more wrong. As he was carefully trying to reach his arm over her, ready for rejection, Rinn’s own small hand grabbed his, and yanked his arm around her further, snuggling up to him. Sasuke beamed to himself as his eyes grew heavy, tucking his head into Rinn’s shoulder as he cuddled her, already feeling comfort unlike anything he had felt in so long.

_Now that she’s here, I don’t have to be alone any more._


	12. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters have now been re-jigged to combine the earlier chapters - this is the new chapter update from 25/02/2021 :)

Rinn was the first to wake up the next morning as the daylight glistened through the gap in her pulled curtains. Adjusting to her surroundings, she was pleased to find that she was in a bed rather than on a hard floor in the mountains. Remembering that she was back in the leaf village at last, she let out a contented sigh. As Rinn began to fidget a little, she became acutely aware of a pair of strong arms wrapped tightly around her waist, pulling her in close to a solidly built chest. This person’s head was also gently burrowed into her neck, breathing so peacefully that it was almost silent. Rinn blushed a little as she realised her close proximity to Sasuke’s partially clothed body, but quickly pushed such thoughts aside as she reminded herself that he was merely her best friend, nothing more.

As Rinn contemplated whether or not to get out of bed, her stomach seemed to decide for her as it let out an almighty _*GURGLE*_. Freezing, she was worried that the noise (and subsequent vibrations) had awoken her sleeping friend. Rinn remained as still as a statue for a few seconds, as if that would stop her friend from waking. Luckily, Sasuke was completely out for the count and didn’t even flinch at her stomach’s shameless attention-seeking. Rinn let out a sigh of relief, before realising her next predicament: how on Earth was she going to escape from Sasuke’s vice grip to go and satisfy her hunger? She certainly couldn’t wake him up, or he would be even more grumpy than usual…

Rinn started at the bottom of Sasuke’s arm, peeling his fingers off her one by one, managing to lift his hand from her waist. She had almost lifted his muscular forearm high enough to be close to freedom, when she heard a sulky growl come from the Uchiha’s throat, his arm shooting back around her at lightning speed - gripping her even more firmly than before! Rinn clicked her tongue in annoyance.

_I’m not letting him hold me prisoner like this! I need to eat!!_

Realising there was no other way around it, Rinn decided that she was unfortunately going to have to wake up Sasuke - she was growing hungrier by the minute. She began by prodding him gently in the forearm (repeatedly) earning her yet another unimpressed groan from her sleeping partner, but he still wouldn’t move. By this point, Rinn was convinced that he was awake because his breathing pattern had changed, but being the stubborn Uchiha that he was, he wasn’t keen on moving and so was pretending to be asleep. This did not impress Rinn in the slightest, so her next prod was a much harder one – right into his ribs. Thankfully this caused him to release his hold on her, and he let out a low whine in protest as she used this opportunity to escape and sit up in the bed. Sasuke, now holding his side where her sharp jab had got him, also turned onto his back, but remained lying down as he looked up at her with pitiful eyes.

“ _Riiiiinnnn_ what was that for? I was having such a nice sleep...” he whined, covering his eyes with his arm to block out the miniscule amount of sunlight making it through the curtains, as if it were burning his eyeballs out of his skull.

Rinn giggled to herself at the display in front of her, poking him in the cheek affectionately.

“Sasuke Uchiha you haven’t changed one bit! You’re still a sulky, grumpy little child first thing in the morning!” She said, laughing to herself. Deep down, she was pleased at this, as it meant that there was still some of his old self in there (which he clearly had a hard time hiding when he had just woken up).

Sasuke removed his forearm from over his eyes, just so he could glare up at her menacingly, and folded his arms over his chest. This only made Rinn chortle further, in turn making Sasuke even more grumpy as he didn’t much like getting laughed at.

“Sasuke... _*giggle*_ You’re killing me here _*snort*_ I can’t bear to look at that grouchy face of yours a moment longer - so I’m gonna go downstairs and make something to eat!” Rinn managed to choke out.

She scooted her body around so that her legs were now over the edge of the bed, only managing to stand up halfway before Sasuke’s arm shot out across the bed and grabbed her wrist. His face looked like a lost puppy dog, as if he were being abandoned. Realising how weak he probably looked, he promptly let go of her arm, rolling back onto his back and folding his arms once more, glaring profusely at the ceiling as if it were the most interesting thing he had ever seen. Rinn chuckled at him one last time before she (finally) managed to get out of bed, putting on her long cardigan over her pyjamas and heading downstairs to the kitchen.

Craving something greasy and filling, she licked her lips as she found some bacon in the fridge and almost cackled with glee as it crackled satisfyingly in the hot oil in the frying pan. Her more evil side almost didn’t throw in any rashers for Sasuke, given that he was too lazy and stubborn to drag his butt out of bed, but even she wasn’t mean enough to deny anyone food, so ended up cooking the whole packet. As she began slicing some bread, she heard some strange noises approaching...

_*Shuffle shuffle*_

_*THUD*_

_*Shuffle shuffle*_

_*THUD*_

This went on for the next minute or so, by which point Rinn lost interest and turned back towards the stove, when the shuffling creature emitted a final:

_*THUD*_

...right into a chair at the dining table. Curiosity finally getting the better of her, Rinn turned around to have a look at said creature (who she had already presumed, correctly, to be Sasuke) and was met with yet another hilarious sight.

Sasuke, the all-powerful and very proud Uchiha prodigy, was sitting at the dining table, wrapped up in the duvet from upstairs as if he were in a little cocoon!

This was too much for Rinn, who once again burst into a fit of laughter.

Sasuke’s head snapped round (as much as it could with a duvet around him) to glare at her indignantly once more, his frown growing further still.

“Sasuke... _WHAT_ are you doing?!” Rinn enquired through various snorts and chuckles.

“...I thought it would be cold....”

“You thought it would be _cold_? It’s a beautiful day outside!!”

“I also didn’t want to get out of bed... This was a compromise...” He said, as if he were trying to make it sound like a respectable, clever idea (which it clearly wasn’t).

“...You look ridiculous...” Rinn said, trying her best to stay deadpan.

Sasuke let out an almighty huff, before he threw the duvet off in dismay and stomped over to the sofa, chucking it on there with such ferocity you would think it was poisonous. He then stomped straight back to his chair and sat down, glaring at the table with his arms folded. Rinn smirked to herself - he was still too easy to wind up! She thought he might have grown out of it by now, but she was glad he hadn’t. It brought her such wicked joy to torment him, and she had some making up to do after all the years she had missed out on it!

“Saaasuke...?” Rinn sang inquisitively.

He merely grunted in response, eyes flicking over to her for a split second before they went straight back to the table again.

“Tell me... how did you get down the stairs without breaking your neck?” She asked, trying her best to sound like she was asking him a serious question as her mind cast back to his earlier _*shuffle shuffle* *THUD*_ sounds.

Sasuke sighed irritably in response, closing his eyes as if trying to collect himself.

“I’m being serious Sasuke.”

“You really wanna know, huh?” He grumbled, not entirely convinced of her motives, opening his eyes once more and looking over at her accusingly, trying to work out what her game was.

“I do.” She replied, keeping her face as emotionless and sincere as possible.

“Well... you can’t take very big steps when you’re all wrapped up so I had to shuffle forwards all the way to the edge of the step, and then I very carefully jumped with both feet down to the next step. Actually, I was able to use chakra control through my feet to help stop myself tripping or slipping, which Kakashi-sensei..... _WHAT?!”_

Rinn was in absolute hysterics. If the image of Sasuke waddling to the edge of each step like a little penguin, before doing a mini hop to the stair below wasn’t enough, the fact that he was trying to make it sound more ‘manly’ by waffling on about chakra control was too much for her. Sasuke, realising that she had caught him out yet again, mumbled inaudible derogatory phrases under his breath as Rinn plated up their breakfasts, still giggling to herself.

She put her plate down across the table from Sasuke, then gently placed his breakfast in front of him. This snapped Sasuke out of his broody, irritable daze as he looked down at the beautiful meal she had cooked for him (his stomach growling in response).

“...thank you. This looks great.” He mumbled quietly.

“You’re very welcome!” Rinn said brightly, smiling at him.

“You know Sasuke, you should stop worrying so much about what people think of you. That damned Uchiha pride of yours will end up getting you into trouble,” she continued light-heartedly, squeezing one of his shoulders comfortingly before going back to her own seat and tucking into her breakfast.

Sasuke began to ponder her comment. She wasn’t wrong – his pride often got the better of him, and nothing wound him up more than people belittling him or making fun of him. As for worrying about other people’s opinions...

_I only really care what YOU think of me Rinn._

Sasuke looked over to his friend as she enjoyed her breakfast, and he was reminded how glad he was that she was back in the village. He didn’t really mind being made fun of anyway he decided, as long as he does it back, they’ll be even right? To be honest, Sasuke wondered if there was anything he wouldn’t put up with to keep his best friend in his life. The more he thought about it, the better he felt and the more cheerful he became about the morning’s antics. Suddenly feeling a little remorseful about his earlier grumpiness, Sasuke decided he should be helpful and got up from the table with his plate, going across to get Rinn’s too. He stopped in front of her, half smiling at her.

“Thanks Rinn, that was delicious.” He said matter-of-factly, picking up her plate and beginning to clear up the dishes and cooking utensils. Rinn was about to get up to help, before Sasuke looked over his shoulder at her, saying kindly:

“It’s OK, you cooked everything, I’ll do the clearing up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Positive. Go and relax, honestly!”

“Thanks Sasuke!” Rinn replied, smiling sweetly at him, which caused him to blush a little. She made her way to the sofa and snuggled under the duvet that Sasuke had thrown there in dismay earlier on, switching on the television.

After Sasuke had finished washing and drying everything, he wandered over to his friend, still comfortably cuddled up with the duvet, and pondered her sanity as she watched what appeared to be a very strange children’s programme. He wondered whether, as it was her day off today, she might prefer it if he went back home and gave her some space. Sasuke, desperately wanting to stay, asked politely:

“Can I join you?”

“Of course you can silly!” Rinn replied, instantly pulling the duvet back so that he could join her under the warmth. Sasuke happily obliged, sitting as close to her as possible. They both put their feet up towards their bodies and got comfortable.

“Say Rinn...” Sasuke began, smirking slightly.

“Yeah?”

“Weren’t you making fun of me earlier when I brought this duvet down?”

“Yeah... what of it?” Rinn replied, narrowing her eyes sheepishly.

“The very same duvet that is now keeping you warm and comfortable?”

“Spit it out Uchiha!”

“Well... If I hadn’t got it down here in the first place, you’d be very cold and _un_ comfortable right now wouldn’t you?” He said, smirking further still.

“...what’s your point?”

“I just think you should admit you were wrong to laugh at me and that it was actually a great idea.”

Rinn snorted in response.

With that, Sasuke pulled the duvet off of her and hogged it all to himself.

“ _HEYYY!_ ” Rinn exclaimed in outrage, trying to claw it back from him as Sasuke revelled in her displeasure.

_Revenge is sweet..._

Sasuke of course had no trouble keeping her flailing arms at bay as she tried to reclaim her lost comfort, effortlessly continuing to keep it out of her reach.

“Now, now, Rinn, it’s rude to snatch. You can have it back you know. All you need to do is tell the truth.” Sasuke said, as if scolding a small child.

“OK _fine._ Itwasagoodideaforyoutobringdowntheduvet...” She mumbled quickly.

“...and?”

“AndI’msorryforlaughingatyou...”

“Thank you, I accept your apology.” Sasuke said, satisfaction evident in his face as he threw Rinn’s half of the duvet back across her body, quickly making himself comfortable again.

The two of them sat in a relaxed silence for about thirty minutes or so, before Rinn interrupted:

“So, what are we gonna do with our day off today??” she asked, keen to get out and about.

“I don’t mind, you can pick since it’s your first ‘proper’ day back.” He replied, nonchalantly.

“Oh I know! Is Hiro’s restaurant still open? Can we go there?”

Sasuke chuckled.

“Is food the only thing you can think of..?”

“Hey you said you didn’t mind!” Rinn replied, pointing at him accusingly.

“You’re right, I did say that...”

Rinn responded by putting on her best puppy eyes, scooting closer to Sasuke on the sofa and turning her body around to look at him, clasping her hands together in a pleading manner.

Well, Sasuke’s heart melted. He couldn’t say no to her. He sighed in irritation at the fact that he was so weak willed when it came to Rinn.

“Sure... Let’s go and pay her a visit. I haven’t seen her for years anyway.”

“You haven’t? Why not?”

“...because I haven’t been to the restaurant since you left?”

“No, I get the concept… but _why_ didn’t you _want_ to go and see her? She was always so kind to us when we were kids...”

“It reminded me too much of you.” Sasuke interrupted a little too sharply.

Rinn gulped slightly, not knowing what to say.

“Hey let’s go to our old sparring area as well shall we? That’s my condition for going to the restaurant OK?” Sasuke said mischievously, trying to lighten the mood after his earlier comment.

He was extremely keen to see what she had been up to whilst she was doing all that ‘special training’ and find out how strong she had become. Although he wouldn’t admit it, he was looking forward to showing _her_ how much tougher _he_ was too.

“Haha it’s all about training with you, isn’t it Uchiha?” She replied, prodding him in the chest playfully.

“Don’t you know it!” He said, smiling proudly.

“Well if we are going to dinner, I refuse to go with an un-showered gentleman. Therefore, you sir must go home to take a shower, and I shall do the same. We shall meet back here in forty minutes precisely!” Rinn announced, putting on a posh voice.

“You got it ma’am.” Sasuke said, lazily saluting her with his fingertips. He dragged himself to his feet, and made his way to her front door.

“Later, Starfish!” He called back to her as he exited, unable to catch himself before his childhood pet-name for her left his lips. He mentally cursed at himself, worried he was making himself look weak again, before he heard a faint:

“See ya, Snapdragon!”

Sasuke felt a sudden warmth in his chest, hearing the nickname she gave him all those years ago, and the foolishness he felt melted away in an instant. Sasuke happily made his way back into his house and up to his bathroom, grinning all the way.

_\----------- X ----------_

Being perhaps a little too eager, Sasuke was ready to go in fifteen minutes flat. Trying to busy himself for the remaining twenty five minutes, he decided to make himself a strong coffee – something that had become a necessary habit for him over the many years of sleeping problems. Often, it was the only thing that allowed him to get to training on time.

Sasuke sat quietly on his sofa, sipping his coffee thoughtfully. In all honesty, last night had been the best night’s sleep he had experienced for a _really_ long time. He had not woken once from a nightmare since he got into Rinn’s bed, because none had come in the first place. Sasuke pondered how she managed to have such a soothing effect on him, even though deep down he knew. Either way, he hoped it would continue because he felt more focused and refreshed than he had in ages, and he couldn’t help but wonder if this would make him perform even better in battle.

_I probably don’t even need the coffee today..._

_\----------- X ----------_

Rinn was quickly getting her appearance together when she heard four knocks on her door, in a specific rhythm that she knew to be Sasuke (he was a creature of habit after all).

“It’s opennnn!” She yelled, hoping it would reach the ears of her visitor- which it did quite easily.

She heard the door creak open, and then shut quietly, and she finished off fixing her hair before running downstairs to greet Sasuke, glancing at the clock as she passed it.

“You’re _early_!” Rinn said when she reached him, hands on hips, pretending to be annoyed.

“You know, you should probably lock your door when you’re showering... you never know who might walk in. In fact, you should keep your door locked whenever you’re here by yourself in my opinion.” Sasuke said, frowning slightly at her and completely ignoring her previous statement.

“Sasuke Uchiha, you are an absolute hypocrite! I think you’ll find your very own door was unlocked last night! And besides, how do you suppose you would have gotten in just now if the door was locked? You would have been forced to wait until I had finished whatever I was doing.”

“A price I’d be more than willing to pay to ensure your safety, Rinn,” Sasuke mocked, folding his arms and smirking at her.

“And what about _your_ safety huh? Anyone could have gotten into _your_ house last night whilst you were there downing endless glasses of whisky.”

“Well that’s not the same is it?” he said, mischief dancing in his dark orbs, daring Rinn to ask why.

“And why’s that?” Rinn retorted indignantly.

“You’re a _girl_.” Sasuke said simply, waiting in delight for the Rinn volcano to explode.

He was not disappointed.

“Why you sexist... How dare you! Are you trying to say I can’t look after myself because I’m a girl?! I bet I could take on twice – no – _ten_ times the amount of opponents as you could, and still defeat them easily!!”

Sasuke chuckled with glee, pleased that he could get such a rise from her. He hoped that this would spur her on to come at him even harder when they ended up sparring later. Rinn, however, quickly caught on that Sasuke was winding her up on purpose and narrowed her eyes at him before taking a deep breath and plastering on a cheesy grin.

“Well you know the solution then don’t you?” she announced, wiping the smug grin straight off of Sasuke’s face.

“Oh?”

“Given that you seem to think, for whatever demented reason, that I need protecting, and given that you’re too weak to take on anyone by yourself...”

“ _Excuse_ me?”

“...all we need to do is get some keys made for each other’s houses. Then you can come and torment me whenever you want, and I can come and save your ass whenever I need to,” Rinn finished, grinning evilly at him, playing him at his own game.

But Sasuke was an Uchiha, and there was no way in hell he was going to rise to this foolishness, so he simply replied with a stoic:

“Sounds good. In fact, let’s go and get them done right now before we get lunch at Hiro’s.”

And with that, Sasuke went and grabbed a pair of shoes from across the room and placed them down in front of Rinn, standing with folded arms expectantly. Rinn smiled cheekily to herself as she gazed down at the little brogue shoes in front of her.

“Sasuke...”

He merely looked up at her and grunted in response.

“No disrespect, but... There is no _way_ I’m going to wear those shoes out with this!!” She said, laughing and pointing to her comfy training clothes. “How do you expect me to fight in shoes like _that_?!”

Sasuke couldn’t keep his straight face any longer, and started to laugh lightly himself. She was right, he picked up the first pair he saw which were a completely idiotic choice for an afternoon’s sparring.

“Maybe that was my plan all along!” Sasuke said, pretending to let out an evil laugh (much to Rinn’s amusement).

Rinn picked up the shoes and ran across the room to pick up something more suitable. Whilst fastening them, she threw each previous shoe at an unsuspecting Sasuke, before cackling like a witch and legging it out of the front door, the Uchiha chasing after her in a mock fury. However, once he had made it out of the door, his orange-haired companion was nowhere to be seen! Tutting to himself, Sasuke put both of his hands around his mouth to holler into the street:

“RINNNN! WHAT DID I TELL YOU ABOUT LOCKING YOUR DOOR?!”

Nothing.

Then a giggle.

But it wasn’t Rinn.

“Whatya up to Sasuke?” Naruto asked from behind him, grinning in delight at Sasuke’s sudden discomfort at his presence.

“N-Nothing!” Sasuke responded defensively, shoving his hands in his pockets and turning his head away from Naruto.

“Who’s Rinn, Sasuke?” Naruto asked, moving around to stand directly in Sasuke’s eyeline.

“None of your business loser, now get going!” He retorted, desperate to get rid of Naruto.

This only served to make Naruto chuckle even more – the great Sasuke Uchiha was trying to hide something, and Naruto was determined to find out what it was. He began looking around the area, trying to discover this mysterious ‘Rinn’ character, when he spied a figure hiding on top of the small porch hanging over the front door of the house next to Sasuke’s. When Naruto’s eyes met hers, she silently signed to him to keep quiet. For a second, he thought about revealing her presence to Sasuke, but the more noble side of him (and the side that disliked Sasuke) decided to play dumb. The figure waited until Sasuke, still not noticing where she was, walked slightly closer to her front door.

Once he was close enough, she ferociously took him out from above, leaving him in a crumpled heap in front of her door. Leaning over him, she sassily locked her door and, standing over him smugly, called down to him:

“You need to be more patient Sasuke... As you can see, I had every intention of locking my door, if you’d only given me a minute rather than bossing me around like a small child. Now look where it’s got you.” Rinn gracefully bent down and poked him in the nose as he still lay there in a daze, his brain still trying to catch up with what had just happened.

Rinn laughed at his current state before poking him harder in the middle of his tummy, bringing him back to reality much more quickly than she had bargained for. Deciding she needed to make her getaway, she leapt over him, running off into the distance to get as much of a head start as she could manage. Sasuke quickly got to his feet, chasing after her with blinding speed (and was that a grin on his face?).

Naruto merely watched as the entire drama unfolded, in great amusement.

_Rinn huh? I think I like her already._


	13. Chapter 11

It took Sasuke longer than he would like to admit to catch up to his friend, whom he only managed to halt by setting a branch above her on fire, allowing it to fall in her path. Laughing, Sasuke grabbed Rinn from behind. The more she struggled, the tighter he held, until all she could manage was a pathetic excuse for a squirm.

“I’ve got you now little orange one!” Sasuke announced, ridiculing her efforts.

“Let... Me... GO!” Rinn replied indignantly, turning around as much as she could in his grasp, so that she could glare at him directly.

However, they had both misjudged their distance from one another and upon turning around, Rinn found her face mere inches from Sasuke’s.

They both fell instantly silent and Sasuke’s breath hitched in his throat, his stomach doing flips and his heart beginning to pound. It was as if his body only just realised how close they _were_. He was getting butterflies from the feeling of her body pressed up against him and his heart was melting at the ‘deer-in-the-headlights’ look her gorgeous emerald eyes were giving him. The feeling of her soft breath against his skin was intoxicating. Rinn gently wet her bottom lip with her tongue – a reflex of nervousness more than anything else. Sasuke’s eyes followed this action like a hawk, his hands subconsciously clenching as if to maintain his quickly weakening self-control. Rinn looked up into his eyes for a few seconds - an action which Sasuke replicated with such purpose and meaning that it was almost scary. However, no matter how hard he tried, his eyes couldn’t help but keep darting down to her lips. His heart was beating louder and faster still, as his mind began to throw endless possibilities at him that he had never before thought possible.

_What is she doing to me...?_

The tension eventually became too much for Rinn, who diverted her gaze elsewhere and began to gently turn her body away from Sasuke, who slowly (but reluctantly) let go of her, still not once looking away from her face. As she began to walk ahead, Sasuke let out a deep sigh and quickly collected his thoughts before walking after her, until he was alongside her once again.

Neither of them spoke for a few minutes, contemplating what had just happened. Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder if she had felt it too – whatever ‘it’ was - and he kept sneaking sideways glances at her to see if he could work anything out. Rinn, however, merely seemed as though she was daydreaming, so Sasuke decided to take the initiative for once.

“So... Keys first then lunch?” He asked awkwardly.

“Hmm? Oh right… yeah… Keys then lunch... Sounds good,” Rinn replied curtly, being pulled from her thoughts.

_\----------- X ----------_

By the time that they had reached Hiro’s restaurant, they were almost back to their normal selves, most of the awkwardness having dissipated since they’d had their keys cut. As a sort of homage to the friendship bracelets they had made each other as children, they picked each other’s key colours. Rinn, in typical fashion, had opted for a bright orange and very glittery key with turquoise geometric lines across it for Sasuke. Sasuke, on the other hand, had picked a navy blue key with the Uchiha clan symbol on the top to give to Rinn.

Whilst sitting at their table waiting to be served, Rinn was discussing how much easier the key to her house would be to find if it were lost, due to its bright sparkly nature, which Sasuke summed up in one word as:

“Garish.”

“Excuse me? I’m gonna end up losing your boring dark coloured key before we even get home! At least you can easily spot my key from a distance!”

“Just like you then I suppose,” Sasuke said, grinning at her mischievously before running a small section of her orange hair through his fingertips thoughtfully.

This made Rinn blush, and she was just about to open her mouth in protest, when Hiro spotted them from across the restaurant and came bustling over in delight.

“Well if my old eyes don’t deceive me! Is that little Firinne, all grown up? And Sasuke too!” Hiro exclaimed, beaming at them both kindly.

“It’s great to see you Hiro!” Rinn replied.

“And you dears, and you! It’s so wonderful to see you both back here!”

Sasuke dropped his head guiltily, beginning to feel bad that he had not been to visit her sooner. Hiro noticed this quickly, and sought to diffuse the situation as quickly as she could:

“Anyway, what can I get for you today? What are your hungry bellies craving for lunch?”

After placing their orders, Hiro watched the two as they talked and ate effortlessly, and was pleased at how happy they both looked. Sasuke got up from the table to use the restroom just as Hiro was coming over to clear the table.

“You know, he hasn’t been in since you left,” Hiro said as she began stacking their empty plates.

“I know... I don’t understand why though. He loved coming here as a kid.”

“Your absence affected him more than anyone thought possible, Firinne. Sasuke has quite the reputation for being a lonely and isolated boy now that he has grown up. You must never underestimate the hold you have on that boy...” Hiro explained wistfully, grinning knowingly whilst uttering her final point.

Rinn frowned in a mixture of disbelief and confusion, and was just about to look up and ask Hiro to elaborate only to find a certain raven-haired individual sitting opposite her instead, looking at her curiously with one eyebrow raised.

“Everything OK?” He asked, trying to sound as emotionless as possible.

“Yeah don’t worry!” Rinn said quickly, flashing a killer smile at Sasuke.

“Good. Because it’s sparring time.”

_\----------- X ---------_

Upon reaching the clearing where they used to train as children, Rinn felt a sudden warmth in her soul as she remembered all the good times they had experienced together over the years. She smiled softly. This feeling was reflected in Sasuke too as he followed behind her, as he allowed himself to crack a tiny smile.

After he felt like he had given her enough time to reminisce, Sasuke cleared his throat purposefully before announcing:

“Right then Rinn, ready when you are,” he said, making his way to the opposite site of the cleaning from her and adopting his fighting stance.

“Come at me with everything you’ve got!” Rinn said, grinning confidently, adrenaline beginning to course through her veins in anticipation.

Sasuke smirked back at her in response, also feeling pumped about the impending fight. As their bodies burned with excitement, all fell silent for a moment. You could cut the tension with a knife. Before Rinn could even blink, Sasuke had already started charging towards her, a determined look in his eyes. Rinn responded by activating the blood red chakra in both of her hands, undertaking a defensive stance.

As he neared, Sasuke was taken aback as Rinn’s eyes turned white. It wasn’t the peaceful, delicate shade of white that the Hyuuga clan possessed. In fact, it was not unlike that of a sorcerer or an undead creature. Noticing his obvious surprise, Rinn smirked at Sasuke before disappearing from right in front of him.

_She’s fast..._

Sasuke’s eyes darted around the clearing, trying to pinpoint her location. As he listened intently for the tiniest sound, his feet were suddenly knocked from underneath him. Falling flat onto his back, Rinn stood above him triumphantly, giving him a patronising smile. Sasuke glared ferociously in response, and returned the favour by trying to trip her with his legs. He was disappointed to find that his shins bounced off something as he tried to kick at her ankles. Furrowing his brows, his eyes looked to Rinn’s lower legs only to find a turquoise, swirling, sparking force resisting his kick at the point of impact.

Realisation dawned on Sasuke as he remembered when they were children and he first saw this strange force-field appear around Rinn, after accidently blasting her with his fireball jutsu. However, it looked a bit different today, as the protective field appeared only where his leg was touching her, and not around her whole body. This confused him a little.

“...it uses up less of my chakra this way,” Rinn clarified, as if she had read his thoughts, “If I brace the point of impact only, it means I have increased stamina for battle.”

“Is that why you’ve turned off whatever that weird red chakra was? And your eyes- they’re green again!” Sasuke asked.

_Damn. He’s sharp._

Rinn giggled.

“Nothing gets past you does it...? Actually, I can’t use both at the same time at the moment so...”

“RINN!!” A voice yelled angrily from atop a nearby tree, before landing next to Rinn with a soft thud.

Noticing immediately who it was, she tutted irritably before stopping the small turquoise vortex and folding her arms.

“What do _you_ want?!” She asked, glaring across at her teammate.

Shichiro’s blue eyes narrowed at Sasuke before he purposely turned his back on him to lecture his teammate. Sasuke took in his slightly threatening appearance. Tall and muscular with shaggy black hair, Shichiro looked sinister enough, but it was the rune tattoos on his neck that gave the more ominous aura. He wore a long black cloak with dark clothing underneath, and seemed to have feathers, beads and alchemic charms dotted about his hair, as if he were a medieval spell caster.

“What do you think you’re doing giving away valuable information like that to an opponent?!” He chastised, staring at her expectantly.

“What do you mean?! Sasuke’s my best friend!” Rinn protested.

“Right. So, you think we are all going to be on the same team for the chunin exams?” He said, deadpan.

“Well no... but...”

“Anyone not on our squad should be considered an opponent. Any information you give them about your, or indeed the team’s techniques and skills will only serve to weaken us in the future.”

“...but”

“Rinn, if the enemy knows what to expect, you are at a disadvantage.”

“HEY. I’m not Rinn’s enemy!” Sasuke interrupted, finally getting to his feet.

“This is nothing to do with you.” Shichiro stated plainly, not even turning around to look at him.

This made Sasuke’s blood boil.

Being ignored. Disrespected. He hated it.

Rinn bit her lip nervously.

“It is when you’re...” He began.

“Am I clear Rinn? Don’t reveal any more of your techniques. If you must spar with this guy, just keep it to basic taijustu OK?” Shichiro cut in, as if Sasuke wasn’t even there, placing a hand gently on Rinn’s shoulder.

Sasuke was furious. How dare he put his hand on her like that?!

“Hey.” Sasuke said, poking Shichiro rather forcefully in the back.

Still ignoring him, Shichiro continued to look at Rinn, squeezing her shoulder to encourage some form of confirmation that she understood what he was saying.

“OK?” He asked again.

Rinn sighed in annoyance.

“OK...” She said reluctantly, causing Shichiro to smile kindly at her in relief. He moved his hand up to her face, brushing a stray hair from her eyes.

“HEY.” Sasuke said louder still, grabbing onto Shichiro’s shoulder angrily and forcing him to turn around to face him.

Shichiro’s smile fell to a bored expression very quickly, which enraged Sasuke even further. By this point, he had reached his limit.

Without thinking, Sasuke swung his hand back and punched Shichiro square in the jaw. Hard.

Shichiro recovered reasonably quickly and kicked Sasuke in the side of the head, causing Rinn to let out a cry of surprise. They were just about to take another shot at each other with kunai when violent ocean coloured sparks blocked them slightly. Looking over, they saw Rinn with her arms out in front of her, palms forward and concentrating immensely. Both Sasuke and Shichiro tried to fight against this force, and unfortunately were managing to push hard enough to begin to part the energy.

Shichiro however, had a trick up his sleeve. Making a hand sign with his free hand, and muttering some sort of incantation, one of the runes on his neck glowed with a mint-coloured light, and he was suddenly able to resist against Rinn’s power. Noticing this, she undertook a stronger stance and tried to push against him with even more force. It didn’t work, and his kunai was getting ever closer to Sasuke when:

“ _SHIT!_ ” Shichiro cursed as flames appeared where Rinn’s blue sparks had been, burning his fingers and forcing him to drop his kunai. Sasuke also took a step back instinctively, although he was not burned himself.

“TATSUO!! What the hell was that?!!” Shichiro exclaimed into the clearing.

No answer.

“Tatsuo!! I know you’re here! Why did you interfere?!” He said, annoyed.

An entertained chuckle met everyone’s ears as said teammate leisurely appeared from behind a nearby tree and casually walked over to them.

“Well Shichiro, I guess you gave me no choice. Lecturing poor Rinn here about keeping her techniques to herself, and there you go pulling sly little tricks on her friend over there. A bit hypocritical wouldn’t ya say?” Tatsuo said, grinning at his teammate who merely grimaced in response.

“So you expect me not to defend myself?”

“I expect you not to pick fights with people from our village, man. We are all leaf village shinobi, and you should act that way.”

“I don’t take orders from you Tatsuo.”

“I’m not ordering you, I’m just making a point.”

Rinn, who was watching them bicker with minimal interest, suddenly began to feel a bit woozy, and gently fell to her knees. Sasuke, who had been watching her the entire time, was there in an instant. He immediately helped her across to a tree, and she leaned weakly against it as he looked at her with concern in his dark eyes.

“Hey, guys...” Sasuke called out to them, eyes still glued to Rinn.

They were of course still having their heated discussion, which had now moved on to who kept who awake last night with their snoring.

“GUYS.” Sasuke said a little more sharply, at last snapping them out of their conversation. Looking over, they noticed Rinn’s state and ambled over to see what was going on.

The two boys joined Sasuke in front of Rinn, each crouching down to her level, when Tatsuo chuckled in amusement.

This earned him a dark sideways glare from Sasuke, which of course he didn’t notice at all.

“Oh Rinn, you silly sausage!” Tatsuo said, ruffling her hair which caused her to sulk at him even further, “You know that technique wears you out, you shouldn’t be using it yet! Wait until you can project it properly before you try shit like that!”

“TATSUO!” Shichiro exclaimed in annoyance. Why were his teammates such huge blabbermouths?

This caused Rinn to laugh hysterically, lightening the mood considerably. Tastuo always managed to push Shichiro’s buttons so easily, and it brought her such evil joy. Thinking she had better fix what was left of this mess, she activated her healing chakra, causing her hand to glow with green energy.

Much to Sasuke’s annoyance, she lifted her hand to Shichiro’s jaw first, healing the wound that he had inflicted with his fist. He felt jealousy brewing inside of him as he noticed the look that Shichiro was giving Rinn as she healed him – he knew it all too well. Shichiro’s eyes were boring into Rinn’s face as if committing it to memory, and he looked annoyingly contented with the fact that he was so close to her. Rinn of course was completely oblivious to this as she was concentrating on the wound itself. Sasuke couldn’t help but wonder how many times Rinn had healed her teammate, and how many times Shichiro had looked at her like... _that_.

Soon enough, she had finished with his wound, and, sitting back against the tree she said to them both:

“Right guys, off you go then! Leave me and my bestie alone to enjoy ourselves will you?” She said playfully, poking her tongue out at them.

Shichiro looked as though he was about to protest, but Tatsuo beat him to it.

“Sure thing Rinn, see you at training tomorrow then!!” He replied, essentially dragging Shichiro with him out of the clearing, leaving Sasuke and Rinn alone again.

Sasuke mumbled several colourful insults under his breath as he turned his body round so that he was sat up against the same tree as Rinn. He exhaled partly in relief, and partly in irritation.

“What’s up?” Rinn enquired, poking his leg lightly as she said it.

“Nothing.” Sasuke said, turning his head slightly so that he could look at her more easily.

This allowed Rinn to notice the blood trickling from above his brow, reminding her that Shichiro wasn’t the only one that needed healing. Swiftly, she activated her healing chakra and moved to sit in front of Sasuke, hovering her hand above his wound. His pulse quickened at their closer proximity, and, just like Shichiro (although he hated to admit it), he couldn’t take his eyes off of her. However, the difference this time was that, unlike with Shichiro, she looked back at him. This made Sasuke’s heart skip a beat.

_I knew you were still **my** Rinn, even after all this time._

Thinking of Shichiro wound Sasuke up again. He tore his eyes away from Rinn and looked at the floor instead, his earlier feelings catching up with him. Noticing something was bothering him, she reached down with her free arm to squeeze his hand. Sasuke gently interlaced his fingers with hers in response. Sasuke’s eyes now moved away from the floor, instead staring at their two intertwined hands intently.

“Why did you heal him first?” he asked quietly, not taking his eyes away from their hands.

Rinn blinked in confusion.

“What?”

“Why did you heal Shichiro first?” He asked again, this time looking up at her directly. He looked hurt.

“To get rid of them of course. The quicker I got them sorted, the quicker they’d leave us alone,” She explained truthfully.

“It would have healed by itself,” Sasuke said bitterly.

“So would yours.” She replied sharply.

“...”

“...”

“...you two seem close.”

“Sasuke, what the hell is this about? He’s my _teammate_.”

Sasuke laughed sceptically.

Rinn let her hand drop now that she had healed his wound and furrowed her brows at him in annoyance, snatching the hand that was holding his away in frustration.

“What’s gotten into you?!” She demanded.

“Nothing.”

“Why do you have such an issue with Shichiro?!”

“I don’t.”

“Right...” This time it was Rinn’s turn to laugh sceptically.

“Right.”

Deep down, Sasuke knew what a pathetic brat he sounded like right now, but he just couldn’t help himself. The anger he felt towards Shichiro was unreal, and deep down he knew it was jealousy. He was jealous of his power, of him spending so much time with Rinn whilst he was left alone in the village, and more importantly he was jealous of how close he was with her. Why did he have to come and interrupt them anyway? Today was supposed to be a fun day for just the two of them, and her teammates had well and truly ruined it as far as he was concerned.

“I just wanted us to have a nice day together, that’s all...” He said softly.

This caused Rinn’s annoyed expression to dissolve, and she let him take her hand once again.

“I’m... sorry if I upset you,” Sasuke continued gently, looking into her eyes once again.

She smiled at him and squeezed his hand.

“Don’t be silly, you haven’t upset me - I have had the best time with you today!! I think perhaps you got off on the wrong foot with my teammates... but it’s nothing that can’t be fixed – they’re both really nice guys!”

Rinn pulled them both to their feet.

“Let’s go home!” She said, smiling at him happily.

Yet again, Sasuke couldn’t help but smile back.


	14. Chapter 12

Sasuke was the first one to awaken, cuddled up closely to Rinn as he often was these days. His arm was locked around her waist and his head was tucked into the crook of her neck. Careful not to wake her, Sasuke gingerly brought his arm away from her body and got out of the bed. Walking quietly around to Rinn’s side, he couldn’t help but marvel at how peaceful... and how _beautiful_ she looked at this moment. Her choppy orange hair was splayed out behind her head, and her porcelain skin displayed a soft flush in her cheeks as she breathed in and out softly. Before he knew what he was doing, Sasuke had already sat down on the edge of the bed next to her and began watching her intently. The moment he was experiencing was timeless, and he did not know how long he sat there before his senses returned to him. Blinking heavily, he brought himself back to reality and, shaking his head at his behaviour, he made his way down to the kitchen, running his hand through his hair and letting out an almighty sigh.

Rinn was awoken by a palm gently resting on her exposed shoulder, and the delicious smell of freshly made coffee. As her eyelids slowly opened, she realised that the hand on her shoulder belonged to Sasuke and, blinking a few more times, saw that he was perched next to her on the bed, holding a mug of coffee.

“Hey…” Sasuke whispered quietly, exhibiting a dashing half-smile whilst rubbing her shoulder in an attempt to wake her up properly (at least that was what he told himself).

“Heyyy” Rinn mumbled groggily, rubbing her eyes and managing to sit herself up against the headboard of her bed.

“Here” He said simply, holding out the mug of coffee in her generation, indicating for her to take it.

“Aw thank you Sasuke, it’s just what I need,” She said, causing Sasuke to blush slightly. He didn’t often do nice things for other people, and he was pretty sure she knew it too. Reaching over to the bedside table, he picked up his own coffee and sat back on what was now ‘his side of the bed’, also leaning against the headboard.

“So... what’s the plan for today?” Rinn asked, after taking a huge swig of coffee.

Sasuke turned to look at her and blinked a few times in disbelief. Her memory was truly terrible.

“Don’t you have to be at training at 9:30?”

The noise Rinn made in response to his comment was one unlike he had ever heard.

“Tell them I’m sick!”

“I don’t have time to do that, I have my own training to do! Anyway, the chunnin exams start soon, you should be preparing...” Sasuke scolded.

“Hmpf. You sound just like Shichiro...” Rinn said accusingly, narrowing her eyes at Sasuke.

He simply tutted and folded his arms, continuing to drink his coffee whilst trying to repress an oncoming scowl. He wasn’t going to give her the satisfaction of biting to her obvious attempt at winding him up. They continued drinking their beverages in silence until, unusually, Sasuke broke it.

“Right, I’m gonna go home and shower and get ready for training. I’ll be back to get you in an hour so we can walk to the training grounds, OK?” He said, taking Rinn’s empty coffee cup and hovering in the doorway to her room as he spoke.

“I suppose so...”

Sasuke glared dangerously at her.

“Rinn...”

“I’m kiddingggg. I’ll get up now – promise!”

Rolling his eyes at her, he turned around and started walking down the stairs.

“Oh, and Sasuke!!” She called down to him.

He stopped walking for a second.

“Yeah?”

“Thanks again for the coffee! You’re the best!” She hollered.

Sasuke didn’t respond, and merely chuckled to himself as he plopped the mugs on the side in the kitchen, making his way out of the front door.

Little did he know he was spotted leaving by a mischievous young blonde...

_\----- X -----_

When Sasuke arrived back at Rinn’s to walk to the training grounds with her, he was surprised to find that she was already up and waiting for him, leaning over the kitchen counter whilst chomping on an apple.

It was the first time Sasuke had seen her wear her ‘ninja’ clothes, as they had been slobbing around in their comfies for the past day or so. He couldn’t deny he was pretty impressed by how strong she now looked. Sasuke was so used to thinking of Rinn as his bubbly best friend, that he often forgot how tough she might have become during the time she had spent in the mountains training. Honestly, it irked him that he still didn’t know the full potential of her power. As he shamelessly scanned her form, he did however notice something missing.

“Not wearing your headband Rinn?” He asked, genuinely intrigued.

“I don’t have one.” She answered simply, taking another bite out of her apple.

“What do you mean you don’t have one?”

“Well... we didn’t stay in the academy long enough to graduate when we were kids before they whisked us all away...” She trailed off, cheeks reddening a little.

Sasuke looked at her with an eyebrow raised, still perplexed.

_By ‘we’ I’m assuming she means those idiotic teammates of hers - I didn’t notice them wearing headbands either... But I just thought they might’ve been from a different village and hiding it or something. Then again, none of them were there for the assessments so…_

Then the penny dropped.

“You don’t even have the rank of genin do you?” Sasuke stated smugly, amusement beginning to dance in his eyes at this realisation, and the humiliation it clearly caused his friend.

“Hey, I bet I’ve carried out missions way more difficult than yours _Uchiha!_!” She contested.

“That doesn’t change the fact that I’m a higher ranking ninja than you.” He responded, smiling at her in victory.

“Bull _shit_!”

Sasuke walked towards her and grinned devilishly.

“You got one of these?” He mocked, pointing at his headband.

“Why ask questions you already know the answer to, dumbass?!” Rinn protested, huffing and folding her arms.

Sasuke sniggered at her displeasure, but then he became a little worried.

“How are you going to take the chunin exams if you’re not even a genin??”

“I dunno. Sensei said he would sort it.”

“That weirdo?!”

“Hey Toru-sensei is a brilliant tutor!”

“Whatever... But seriously, the exams are a few days from now.”

“I know.”

“Well aren’t you gonna do anything about it?”

“Toru-sensei is sorting it, now stop lecturing me and get a move on!”

Grabbing her things, Rinn stomped towards the door with her nose in the air, not caring if Sasuke was behind her or not. After one last chuckle at Rinn’s expense, Sasuke followed after her, being sure to lock the door behind them. He was such a worrier about security and such when it concerned Rinn’s safety…

_\----- X -----_

Unusually, they were both the last in their squads to reach the training area, and the fact that they arrived together caused a number of suspicious looks to be cast their way. The two teenagers blushed as they split up and walked over to their respective teams, situated a good few hundred metres away from one another.

“About time lazyguts!!” Tatsuo said playfully, elbowing Rinn lightly.

“I’m not late yet moron!!”

“Sensei, there should be a penalty for the last one here!” He continued, keen to annoy his teammate.

“Oh shut up Tatsuo you’re giving me a headache…” Toru replied, raising a gloved hand to his temple in mock annoyance.

“I’m afraid I lack the capacity sensei.”

“I don’t doubt it,” Shichiro interjected, his silent temper already being ignited. Although this could have been partly due to whom Rinn had arrived with. Just what was their relationship anyway? Hadn’t that Uchiha kid ignored her for years? It wasn’t fair that he could just walk back into her life from nowhere suddenly commanding all of her attention, whilst he and Tatsuo had been there by her side for all of these years.

Rinn gulped as she followed Shichiro’s icy glare as it moved from Tatsuo to Sasuke, trying to think of something to say to break the tension.

“So... Any news on this genin situation sensei? Or can we just skip straight to the chunin exams?” She asked, sighing in relief as this effortlessly captured the attention of both Tatsuo and Shichiro.

Toru scratched at the back of his head nervously.

“Well unfortunately you need to be a genin in order to take the chunin exams...” He began, his students quickly closing in on him shouting a unanimous:

“WHAT??!!”

“...let me finish guys. I had a little chat with the Hokage last night, and, luckily for you, he’s asked one of the academy sensei to assess you and _hopefully_ assign you the rank of genin, ready for the upcoming exams.”

“Luckily for _us_?! YOU should have sorted this out before we got here! It’s the whole reason we came all this way!!” Tatsuo protested.

“HOPEFULLY assign us? What are you trying to say about our skills, sensei?!” Rinn interjected, outraged at his low opinion of them.

“Guys guys guys! I’m not your enemy here!” Toru said, raising his palms up towards them in a calming manner, smiling awkwardly “And we need to get to the academy pronto, let’s move out.”

The last few words Toru uttered came out in such a commanding manner that the three team members knew he wasn’t messing around anymore. Their sensei was a strange one; he was a lazy, immature, wind-up merchant most of the time. However, he could change in seconds to a powerful, domineering and somewhat frightening leader. Despite this, they trusted him with their lives. He had never let them down.

With that, Rinn’s squad and their sensei departed into the forest towards the ninja academy.

Sasuke watched them as they disappeared further into the distance, wondering what they were up to.

_Probably more interesting than playing ninja with these idiots..._

Kakashi explained what he wanted from them during today’s training, and quickly took off to a comfortable spot underneath a nearby tree to continue his “reading”. The second that Naruto opened his mouth, Sasuke let out a huff of annoyance and began to walk away when his shoulder was caught by his teammate.

“Hey, where dyu think _you’re_ going?” Naruto asked accusingly.

“Away from you, loser. I’ll get more out of my training if I train alone.”

“I’ll come with you Sas…” Sakura began eagerly, quickly shutting up when she received a savagely disapproving look from the Uchiha.

“Alone.” He repeated icily.

Naruto’s eyes narrowed mischievously as he maintained his grasp on Sasuke.

“Oh, I dunno Sasuke... You don’t seem to be doing much _alone_ these days...” He said, chuckling.

Sasuke turned around in anger, baring his teeth at Naruto, daring him to continue.

“Watch it loser...”

“In fact, just this morning I caught you leaving a certain female visitor’s house...”

Sakura gasped in shock. Who was this mysterious girl?? How had she got her filthy little paws on Sasuke?! And not only that, he had been _at her house_!! Sasuke never went to anyone’s house. On the inside, Sakura was seething, however she managed to keep herself composed on the outside – keen to know more.

“And what of it?” Sasuke replied, closing the gap between himself and Naruto threateningly.

This earned another peep from Sakura.

_So it’s true?! Whoever she is, I’m gonna make her regret going near my Sasuke-kun! She had better watch out!!_

“Well… I just think it’s a bit hypocritical, don’t you?” Naruto continued, putting his arms behind his head matter-of-factly. He was enjoying this - getting to push Sasuke’s buttons was one of his favourite things to do, and it wasn’t often that he had such an opportunity.

“I couldn’t care less what you think.” Sasuke eventually concluded, after calming himself down. He wanted to knock Naruto’s block off. Sasuke had hoped to keep his friendship with Rinn a secret, and this blabbermouth was ruining that for him. However, his sensible side got the better of him and instead he just walked away (although he didn’t know quite how he managed it).

As Sasuke began practicing some shuriken techniques a good distance away from his comrades, Sakura decided to use the opportunity to interrogate Naruto. She needed to know exactly who she was competing with for Sasuke’s affections!

“Psst… Naruto.”

“What is it Sakura?” He asked, beginning to blush at the fact that she was talking to him. Alone. Of her own free will.

“So... Who is this girl Sasuke was staying with?”

Naruto howled in frustration, gripping his head in anguish.

“Gahhh! Sasuke _again_!!”

“Please, Naruto?”

He huffed sulkily in response, folding his arms and turning his head away from her in protest.

“I’ll be so grateful for your help. _Pleeease_...?” Sakura pressed, mustering up her best attempt at puppy eyes.

“Ok Ok. _Fine_. All I know is she has orange hair, she lives next door to Sasuke, and I think I used to see her around when I was younger... Our houses are real close...”

_The one Sasuke arrived with this morning!! I knew she was trouble..._

“I’ve never seen anyone like that at the academy.”

“Maybe she went away.”

“Why?”

“Jeez, Sakura how am _I_ supposed to know?!”

“You said yourself, you live close by.”

“Yeah, but I don’t _spy_ on people!!”

“Well how does Sasuke know her? You said you saw her around when you were younger, right?”

“Beats me. Maybe she was Sasuke’s friend when they were kids. They seemed to hang out a lot, from what I remember.”

Sakura subconsciously let out a growl at how unhelpful Naruto was being. How was she supposed to get anywhere with him being so difficult? He was the only one around who knew that girl except for Sasuke, and she couldn’t very well ask him. Unless...

_Her teammates!_

She mentally kicked herself for not thinking of it before. All she had to do was ask them about this girl and Sasuke’s ‘relationship’ (or hopefully lake thereof...) and then all of her questions would be answered! Sakura glanced over her shoulder, and to her dismay found that the team that were stood there before had long since gone. Letting out a sigh of frustration, she decided she ought to start working on her ninjutsu ready for the chunin exams.

_I’m sure they’ll be back soon enough._

_\----- X -----_

Sakura was not wrong, for no more than two hours had passed when the mysterious team reappeared in the training area, still a good distance from Squad 7 who were currently sitting down and eating their lunch. Everyone noticed their arrival when they landed.

Sasuke and Sakura’s eyes went straight to Rinn.

Naruto was surveying the whole team to work out who he wanted to fight most.

Kakashi’s gaze was glued to Toru, trying to remember where he had seen him before.

Sasuke, however, was the only one to notice the new addition to the team (or rather, to Rinn - he didn’t much enjoy looking at the others). They now all possessed Leaf Village headbands! Tatsuo wore his as was tradition, on his forehead and Rinn used hers as a makeshift alice band – pushing her bangs back into cute little quiff appearance at the front, with a spiky orange outburst behind. Shichiro on the other hand was in no hurry to display any ties to the leaf village and Sasuke could not see where he was keeping his from the distance between them. He wanted to rush over to Rinn, keener than he would like to admit to find out how she’d got a headband, and whether she had achieved the rank of genin… but his pride would not let him.

Sasuke was worried about looking weak to his teammates. He did not want to be seen to be hopelessly chasing around after some girl (although deep down he knew that Rinn wasn’t just ‘some girl’) nor did he want to be seen caring about another person’s wellbeing. Sasuke has worked hard on his reputation as a lone worker, and a strong one at that. He wasn’t about to change that any time soon.

Luckily for him, and subsequently for Sakura as she still wanted to quiz the newbies, their loud blonde comrade made the first move for them. Naruto was already closing in on the other squad by the time Sakura and Sasuke managed to catch up with him.

Rinn, recognising Naruto from both when they were children and from when she saw him outside the house a day earlier, smiled at him as he approached. Noticing this, Naruto grinned back and spoke to her first.

“Hey! Uhh... Rinn was it??” He began, hoping he’d gotten her name right. Sakura scowled at this.

_So he knew her name and didn’t tell me, huh? I wonder what else the little brat was keeping from me. Naruto, you idiot!!_

“Hey Naruto, how’s it going?”

“Y-you know me??!”

“Yeah I guess. Well I know _of_ you!”

“Everyone does...” Sakura said sarcastically, crossing her arms.

Rinn giggled at this, offering a hand out to Sakura.

“Hi, I’m Rinn. This is Tatsuo, Shichiro and my sensei Toru!” She said, gesturing at the others.

Sakura reluctantly shook Rinn’s hand, her sharp eyes noticing the bracelets she wore around her wrists and, much to her displeasure, how similar they seemed to the ones that Sasuke wore. Tatsuo also came forward to shake the hands of all the new acquaintances eagerly, apart from Sasuke whom he had already met. Toru offered a friendly wave, but didn’t come forward, and Shichiro only graced them with a nod, clearly unhappy about being anywhere near Sasuke - a feeling that was probably mutual.

“So, where did you guys come from? Are you here for the chunin exams?” Naruto demanded, keen to find out as much as he could about these strange new arrivals.

“Well, we started off here as kids, just like you. We were just taken away for special training at a young age, several hundred miles away up a craaaazily high mountain...” Tatsuo said, as Sasuke and Rinn exchanged meaningful glances at the words “taken away”. Sakura picked up on this immediately and was beginning to become more and more unhappy about this Rinn girl ever having come back in the first place.

“Oooo what kind of training?? Did you learn any killer techniques?! Can you teach me?!” Naruto energetically replied, much to Tatsuo’s amusement. He saw a lot of himself in Naruto, and was about to open his mouth to tell him all about their adventures when Shichiro interrupted.

“I’m afraid that’s classified, Naruto. I apologise.” He said, bowing slightly and offering a sympathetic smile to the knuckleheaded blonde. Sasuke was taken aback by Shichiro’s apparent politeness and consideration, given how he had behaved around him last time they had an encounter. Clearly, Shichiro had a problem with him, and him alone.

“Awww mannnn! So you can’t teach me any super cool new moves?” he whined.

“Apparently not Naruto, sorry buddy!” Tatsuo replied.

Sasuke’s eyes flicked to Rinn once again, wanting to drag her aside to talk to her on his own, but his ego stubbornly stopped him.

“So you’re leaf ninja then?” Sakura asked, now less wary and keen to be included in the conversation.

“Yeah, what dyu think these headbands are for??” Tatsuo replied, pointing at his forehead.

“Well _he’s_ not wearing one!” Sakura protested, gesturing to Shichiro. Smiling at her graciously, he pulled back one side of his cloak to reveal his headband tied securely around his belt, on the side of his hip.

“What good is it gonna do you _there_?!” Naruto hollered, pointing at Shichiro.

Sasuke smirked at his comment, secretly pleased he was picking on him.

“Hey I just don’t like to give too much away about myself OK? The less the enemy knows about you, the better. It can only work to my advantage.” He responded, chuckling.

Sasuke’s smirk turned to a scowl. Does this kid have an answer for everything?

“Wait, where did you get these headbands from? I don’t remember seeing any of you at the academy, or at the final exams.” Sakura said, her curiosity rising. Sasuke’s ears pricked up as well. He had been dying to ask this since they got back but didn’t want to seem too interested in front of his or Rinn’s squads.

“We just graduated.” Rinn answered, clearly finding the whole idea hilarious as she seemed to be holding in a fit of laughter.

Sakura and Naruto gasped, whilst Sasuke just raised an eyebrow curiously.

“Yeah, they just assessed us on all the things you guys learned at the academy.” Tatsuo continued.

“Taijutsu, general combat and use of kunai and shuriken...” Rinn said.

“Substitution, transformation and clone jutsu. You know, the easy stuff.” Shichiro finished, not meaning to sound derogatory but unfortunately it seemed to have been received that way.

Sakura hung her head embarrassment, suddenly feeling very under-qualified.

Naruto was also looking incredibly frustrated, as he had struggled time and time again to get through those graduation tests. In fact, he had only managed to get through last time because he stole that sacred scroll...

Even Sasuke was a little ticked off. Obviously he didn’t find any of the before mentioned things difficult, but just how far had these ninja come? How far behind was he compared to them?

Sensing the sudden drop in mood, Toru decided to step in.

“So, everyone, the chunin exams are only a few days away now. You’d all better get back to training. If you all work hard, I’ll speak to Kakashi-sensei over there and see if we can treat everyone to a nice dinner tonight. What dya say?” he asked, grinning and ruffling Naruto and Tatsuo’s hair.

“All right! Thanks sensei, we’ll work our butts off this afternoon! I know just the place for dinner!” Naruto said eagerly, the fire in his eyes igniting once more. Even Sakura looked much happier and gave a cheery “Thank you” to Toru before following Naruto back to where they had left their lunches. She had completely forgotten about doing any further digging about Rinn. For now.

Sasuke, however, hung back, keen to at least have one conversation with his friend. Annoyingly, her teammates were still loitering around, and they didn’t seem to be leaving anytime soon. Thankfully, Rinn saved him the embarrassment of asking them to leave so they could ‘talk’.

“Guys, I’m just gonna have a quick sit down with Sasuke over there,” She said, pointing to a nearby tree with a thick trunk, “I won’t be long OK?”

Shichiro glanced furiously at Sasuke, before turning his back on them and heading off in the opposite direction, whilst Tatsuo winked at Rinn suggestively before saying:

“OK you guys, whatever you say. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t!”

And with that he ran off after Shichiro before Rinn could even think about chasing after him and giving him a good wallop for his cheekiness. Instead, she chose to roll her eyes and wandered over to sit against the tree trunk, Sasuke trailing after her.

“So you’re a genin now, huh? How does it feel?” Sasuke said, sitting next to her against the tree.

“Honestly? No different! This headband is a pain in the arse though…” Rinn replied.

“I think it looks cute.” Sasuke said without thinking. He started turning red, and instantly looked to the floor, hoping she wouldn’t notice.

“Uhh… Thanks... I’m not sure that’s what it’s there for though, y’know!” she chuckled, nudging Sasuke playfully.

“So did they actually make you prove you could do all of those things?”

“Yeah... It was pretty lame. The instructor was so un-trusting! A bit like you really...”

“I’m untrusting?!” Sasuke exclaimed, appalled and slightly offended.

Rinn merely shot him a sarcastic look that said ‘don’t lie to yourself, you know I’m right’.

Exhaling loudly in defeat, he brought his hands behind his head and looked up to the sky through the branches of the tree. Thinking quietly for a few moments, Sasuke was the next to speak.

“Hey Rinn,” He said, looking over to her out of the corner of his eyes.

“Mmm?”

“I’m not _completely_ untrusting...”

Rinn snorted in amusement/disbelief.

“No, I’m serious,” he continued.

“...”

“I trust you.”

Again, he was unable to look at her due to his discomfort when talking about his feelings, but was pleased when she responded with a:

“You too, Snapdragon!”

“Starfish.” He stated simply, getting a comforting feeling from hearing their childhood nicknames for each other.

They continued contentedly chatting about everything and nothing for about twenty minutes before Toru came over to split them up so they could get back to their training. Reluctantly, they parted ways and Rinn and Toru took off some distance away to train with her team. The curiosity of Team 7 had been well and truly ignited about these newcomers, and at every explosion and yell they heard from Team Toru’s direction they couldn’t help but wonder what fantastical and powerful techniques they were practicing. Perhaps they would find out over dinner?

_\----- X -----_

It was inevitable. They had ended up at Ichiraku Ramen, much the delight of Naruto (and interestingly, Rinn). All six of the genin were completely exhausted from a hard day’s training, and therefore much too tired to argue about where their food came from, as long as they actually _got_ food.

Sasuke was pleased to have managed to grab a seat next to Rinn, who was sat opposite Saukra. This was no accident, as Sakura wanted to inspect her as closely as she could. Unfortunately, this choice had meant that she was sat next to Naruto. On the other side of Rinn was Tatsuo, leaving Shichiro sat opposite him and next to Sakura. The two jonin (Kakashi and Toru) chose to sit on a separate table.

They talked quite cheerily amongst themselves until their ramen finally arrived, sending most of them into an immediate silence as they stuffed their faces.

“Damn it!!” Sasuke cursed to himself as he struggled with his chopsticks.

Rinn laughed at the spectacle, unsympathetic as ever.

“What’s the matter Sasuke, forgotten how to eat?” She teased, earning her a chortle of approval from Naruto’s general direction.

Sasuke glared at her ferociously before cursing a few more times as his fingers still would not hold the chopsticks.

“Hey, I know it must make you nervous to be around such beautiful men like Naruto, Tatsuo and Shichiro, but get a grip Sasuke. Your hands are shaking all over the place!” She continued, a devilish glint in her eye.

“Actually _Rinn_. Sasuke injured himself earlier during training. He dislocated his fingers and although he’s pushed them back in, they’re still very painful and he’s finding it difficult to use his hands properly.” Sakura explained smugly, pleased she knew something that Rinn didn’t about Sasuke. Her smugness soon disappeared though, when she noticed Sasuke’s thundery gaze from across the table, daring her to interfere more.

However, Sakura’s explanation did nothing to curb Rinn’s amusement at the situation. In fact, it only heightened it further.

“Sasuke you _idiot_! What did you do that for?! How did you even do it?” She said, howling with laughter.

Sasuke threw his chopsticks down onto the table in frustration, glaring at Sakura even more intently, cursing her for opening her mouth.

“Hey, aren’t you gonna tell me what you did?!”

“No.”

“Aw c’mon!”

“No.”

  
“Sasukeeee”

This continued for a few minutes before Tatsuo ended up flicking her on the head and telling her to shut up and eat her ramen. Sasuke, unable to use either of his hands to eat, merely sat there with folded arms, watching his full bowl of food intently. Rinn finished her ramen in a mere instant – almost as quickly as Naruto – and soon afterwards asked for seconds. Sasuke still hadn’t touched his food.

“Aren’t you gonna eat that?” Rinn asked him.

“I already told you Rinn, I can’t. And I’m not gonna make a fool of myself by continuing to try.” He replied firmly.

Rinn sighed dramatically, as if she were dealing with a small child.

“Give me your hands, I’ll heal them for you,” she said.

Sasuke didn’t need to be told twice, and swiftly placed both of his hands on the table to the side of her. Her comment had also caught the interest of Naruto and Sakura, who were eager to see whether she was really capable of such a technique as a mere genin. Rinn’s hands began to glow a soothing green, yet just as she was placing her hand over Sasuke’s it made a loud crackling noise, and promptly disappeared.

“Crap!!” Rinn cursed.

“Out of chakra, are we?” Shichiro called from across the table, amusement evident in his face, which quickly dropped when he heard Rinn’s next idea.

“I’ll just have to feed you, Sasuke. We can’t have you going hungry. I’ll sort your hands out when we get home,” She decided, picking up Sasuke’s discarded chopsticks from the table and delving into his noodles.

Sakura’s face was a picture of utter horror as she noticed Sasuke slightly blush as Rinn began to feed him. She studied Rinn intently whilst her attention was diverted to Sasuke. Medium-length, choppy, wild hair; grungy dark make-up; hundreds of piercings in her ears; strong and curvy frame, mouthy, happy and loud – Sakura didn’t understand. She had always thought Sasuke liked well put-together girls, with long, glossy hair and skinny bodies (hell, that was why she was on a diet half the time!). And here was Rinn… Sakura didn’t even know how to describe her, and she was commanding all of Sasuke’s attention effortlessly. Sasuke actually _wanted_ to be around this girl, and it stung Sakura deeply. Rinn was everything she wasn’t.

When Rinn had finished feeding her friend, she lightly dabbed around his mouth with a napkin, causing them both to chuckle lightly, before Sasuke muttered a soft “Thank you” to her. Knowing Sasuke as long as they had, Naruto and Sakura were surprised at how much he seemed to smile and laugh around Rinn. It was certainly very out of character for how they knew him to be. Naruto had already warmed massively to Rinn, yet Sakura was growing more jealous by the hour. She was beginning to wish Rinn had never existed in the first place. How was she supposed to contend with Sasuke’s best friend, of all people?

Soon enough, all the ninja had satisfied their appetites, and it was time for them to express their gratitude and head off home. Shichiro instantly offered to walk Rinn home, although this was quickly turned down (more so by Sasuke). Instead, he and Tatsuo decided to be chivalrous gentlemen and walk Sakura home, despite not being overly fond of her as of yet. This suited Sakura just fine as she couldn’t wait to quiz them all about their teammate.

_\----- X -----_

As per usual, Rinn was the first to shower and get into bed, and, as was _becoming_ usual, Sasuke was the second to shower and was now carefully snuggling (shirtless) up behind Rinn. He draped his muscular arm around her waist – an act that always gave her butterflies. She gently placed her hand over his, causing him to flinch the tiniest amount, still in pain from his earlier injury to his hands. Rinn had completely forgotten about his injury after they had left Ichiraku’s, and mentally chastised herself before turning around to face Sasuke in the bed. He suddenly become incredibly flustered about how close particular parts of her body were to him, his heart thumping out of control as he prayed none of his blood would rush south...

Sasuke gulped as she reached down and grabbed his hands gently. She was so close he could feel her breath on his skin, and it made his skin tingle in a way he’d never felt before. He concentrated on trying to control his breathing and heart rate, pleading his body to calm down – she was his best friend for goodness sake!

Rinn began to heal his hands, still touching them tenderly, and Sasuke felt instant relief from the pain he had been feeling.

“Seems like it was just soft tissue damage, your bones look fine.” Rinn stated once she had finished.

“Thank you... hey what do you mean my bones _look_ fine? How on Earth can you know that?”

“Oh, never mind. Was just a slip of the tongue,” She said, clearly making up excuses.

Sasuke would have protested more, yet just hearing her use the word ‘tongue’ had done strange things to him and he found himself getting worked up yet again. It was just as well it was too dark for him to see her properly... And for her to see him.

As she turned back around so that her back was facing him, Sasuke let out a quiet sigh of relief. He was glad that was over, and that she was now facing the other way... Or was he? He didn’t know anymore.

His arm felt like jelly as he wrapped it back around her and pulled her close to him, inhaling the smell of her shampoo and perfume. Sasuke just prayed that sleep would take him soon tonight, so that he didn’t have to torture himself any longer.


End file.
